


Ch@TterbOX

by sky_fish



Category: Arashi (Band), NewS (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Drama, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-01-04 23:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 57,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_fish/pseuds/sky_fish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ninomiya Kazunari is in charge of the IT department of a totally normal firm called Matsumoto Inc. Sitting in a single office is quite boring, so he spends a lot of time chatting with the receptionist Aiba Masaki or playing online games with his buddy, illustrator Ohno Satoshi. When the young lawyer Sakurai Sho becomes his new mysterious co-worker, Nino quickly gets interested in him. To get the newbie's attention he starts to talk non-stop during work and soon develops a habit of spamming his new co-workers inbox – to Sakurai's regret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nice 2 meet U!

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposting from my lj-account (Ch@TterbOX originally posted between January and August 2013) for back-up reason. Rating is getting higher later on. I tried to correct some typos and mistakes. Hope you like it! 
> 
> Thanks to my dear friend Airifan who betaed for me and supported me during writing this multichapter! Thank you very much! *hugs*

In the beginning, Ninomiya Kazunari assumed that this day in his office would be as ordinary as the day before, the day before, and all the other days of the past months. He was working for about four years in this quite ordinary company now and his daily routine never really changed. Well, maybe except from when he switched from his coffee phase to his tea phase a few weeks ago (for living a bit more healthy) and switched back only a few days later to his normal coffee consumption because work without caffeine was just unbearable most of the time.

Nino, as he was called by his friends as well as the people in the office (except from his boss), was working there as a professional for IT matters. He was in charge of the whole technology used in the company like setting up the newest hard- and software as standards for all the employees, solving computer problems and fixing printers and other machines when they did not work properly. Usually, his work wasn't too difficult. Most of the problems with the printers turned out just to be just paper jam, on the contrary not refilled paper or accidentally switched off machines because of clumsy secretaries - nothing special – and for the computer problems, well, Nino was pretty good in his job.

In fact, Nino's job was quite boring most of the time. If he wasn't updating software, rescuing paper from the printer or explaining diverse co-workers the newest programs, he often spent time online with playing online games. Since he never neglected incoming work for that sake he never got trouble because of that. More than that, he was the one in charge of checking the employees' activities on their computers to tattle to his boss (which he never did, usually) if someone was using the internet for personal use. In short - if he did not tell his boss, his boss would never find out. Nino often had contact through e-mail or a respective team speak server to his friend Ohno Satoshi, who worked from home as a book illustrator and due to his own choice of working schedule sometimes had time for playing games as well during the day.

_"Today's is a treasure hunting mission? Seems like you've got plenty of time again... must be boring as hell in the office, Nino,"_ Ohno said over the team speak server both of them used during their gaming sessions. He yawned.

"Yeah, it's gonna be as boring as usual... But Oh-chan, you sound pretty tired. We can postpone this one," Nino pointed out.

_"Well... I had to finish my deadline for the new set of illustrations last night... I thought I could stay awake until midday but my bed is calling me," the artist yawned again, "Sorry for leaving you alone with another boring day... I'll take a nap for a few hours and we can check out our mission later on. See ya!"_

"Alright. Sweet dreams!" Nino replied and finally hung up.

When Nino wasn't playing games or working but just had nothing to do at all - like now - he used to take a walk through the company. With two cups of coffee in his hands, he then decided to visit his co-worker Aiba Masaki who was in charge of the reception and usually was the perfect choice for handing out and having a nice chat in between.

When Nino went there today, his co-worker looked very unhappy, which was very unusual. Usually, he was the most cheerful guy Nino ever met. Always smiling (important for a good receptionist), always offering nice words to people who looked depressed or in trouble (just like Nino when he was complaining about his boring life as a young single man repeatedly, for example). However, today, obviously Aiba seemed in trouble.

"Aiba-chan, what's with that face? You look horrible," was Nino's nice greeting when he leaned over the reception desk, handing one coffee to his sighing friend.

"Thanks, Nino... you're charming like always," Aiba sighed again. "Well, coffee is a brilliant idea so thank you very much!" the young man took the offered cup of coffee and downed half of it within a second. 

Hopefully, the coffee wasn't that hot any longer, Nino thought.

"Aaah~ now it's better," the receptionist said before drinking the rest of his coffee as well.

"Tell me what happened, I'll try to help you!" Nino offered, receiving another sigh as reply.

"You will call me crazy...," Aiba chuckled miserably.

First, Aiba didn't really want to tell but after a few more encouraging words Nino found out that Aiba had met someone in the new club they visited the former Saturday after Nino already had left due to the disappointment of the single men market there. Someone, Aiba totally fell in love with for his oh-so-damned-sexy-dancing-style how Aiba called it. He told Nino about the surprise, because in fact, Aiba had met that person a hundred times before already, not thinking about him that way at all. In short, Aiba fell in love with their boss, Matsumoto Jun.

After Nino unbelievably gaped at his co-worker for a few seconds and considering a few mean comments, he gulped down in favor of his friend, the young man tried his best to encourage Aiba about this but... it seemed like there was not much to help. First - Matsumoto was their boss. He knew his employee's names but didn't interact much with them. Rumor had it though, that he was laying secretaries of the firm from time to time (of course no-one officially knew about that) but as much as Nino knew, all possible victims had been female so far. If that rumor were true, the chances of Matsumoto being interested in a guy like Aiba, would drop to zero. Nino patted his friend's shoulder and promised to go out for a drink with him after work to their favorite bar to make him forget his worries and to find him another hot young man he could fall in love with. He knew how difficult that could be but it was worth a try to make Aiba smile again.

"Ninomiya-san, Aiba-san! Chatting again? Don't you have any work to do?" a strict voice behind them suddenly asked. 

Talking about the devil, it was their boss! Aiba froze and his face turned deeply red. Nino just turned around taking another nip of his coffee, unimpressed.

"Good morning, Matsumoto-san, can we help you?" he smiled at his boss politely before his eyes got drawn to someone next to his boss. What was that? The devil had company today.

"First – fix you necktie, Ninomiya-san," Matsumoto-san began. "There is a free working space and a free computer in your office, right? We need that space for our new in-house lawyer Sakurai-sensei," the tall man nodded towards his companion. "Kimura-sensei hasn't cleaned his desk yet and still has some work to do before leaving so his office is no option for now."

"I see, so our new colleague here has to share the office with me until then?" Nino asked for confirmation, ignored the comment about his necktie and took a closer look at the newbie. 

The new lawyer was a bit taller than Nino, his hair was dark brown, not too short but not as long and not as messed up as Nino's. Nino automatically ran his fingers through his hair just to raise the chance to get a few of those stubborn stands in order to not look like he just got out of bed and then continued checking out the new guy. His dark eyes were mysterious. Because of his serious look it was hard to tell if he was a nice and friendly person or just strict and boring. However, his lips were red and full and looked very nice to kiss.... Nino smirked slightly. 

Yeah, he was aware of the fact that he was quite in need of a man – or at least sex – lately and that nearly everyone could become a victim of his thoughts today, but he didn't mind and just continued checking out. Instead of Nino's unbuttoned necktie, which was hanging loosely around his neck, the lawyer's – what was his name? Sakurai? - just looked perfect. Nino found himself wondering if maybe a wife had tied it that perfectly or maybe a boyfriend or if Sakurai just had talented fingers. Just for the records, Nino would prefer the last option for several reasons.

All in all, the young lawyer was damned handsome, Nino had to admit, even if his first impression was a little bit stiff. Nino had considered turning around to Aiba for telling him with his eyes that he should check out that guy instead of Boss Matsumoto but when the newbie finally bowed, introduced himself and then smiled at Nino with those kissable lips, the young man suddenly changed his mind. No, maybe he didn't want to turn Aiba's interest towards that guy any longer.

"Nice to meet you, Ninomiya-san, Aiba-san, I'm Sakurai Sho."

What a nice, deep voice, Nino thought, holding his breath for a second. Another thing he liked when it came to guys. 

"Nice to meet you too," Nino replied after bowing too and immediately found his eyes glued on Sakurai's face (OK, his lips) again. 

Shortly after – just for Nino's disappointment - Sakurai's smile disappeared again and got replaced with his strict look from before. Maybe he was a bit nervous because it was his first day. After giving Aiba Sakurai's coat for taking care of, Matsumoto entrusted the new guy to Nino for showing him around the office and introducing him to the other employees, so Sakurai just followed him.

Nino started with explaining a few typical characteristics about the company and the staff. He also warned Sakurai about Matsumoto's bad mood in the morning when he still didn't have his first cup of coffee. He joked that he and Aiba had the strong suspicion that Matsumoto's mood was even worse when he didn't left the building together with a beautiful woman the evening before. Nino wasn't surprised when Sakurai didn't laugh about that joke and so he just continued to explain which were the best and most effective options to choose if Sakurai should meet paper jam at one of the printers. He had to pull himself together when he noticed the nice scent of the aftershave the man walking beside him was wearing. Combined with looking at Sakurai's attractive face, this made Nino's knees feel a bit weak for a moment. He cleared his throat, chatting some more about his co-workers to give Sakurai a better idea about his new colleagues. Sakurai didn't say a word and just listened, nodding his head slightly from time to time.

\- - - - -

After their walk through the office, they finally arrived at the IT department (consisting of one small room, inhabited by Nino only so far) and the young man didn't take long to put up a free computer and install the most important software for the lawyer so that he could start working right away. He explained a few programs, offered his help if anything troubled the lawyer and sat down again at his own place, just in front of Sakurai at the other side of the table. The lawyer seemed covered in work soon but Nino on the other side still didn't have much to do. Sipping on his already third cup of coffee, he just kept himself "busy" with examining his new co-worker.

"So... you're Kimura-san's replacement, right?" Nino finally asked to kill the deadly silence between them.

"Yes," was Sakurai's short - really short - reply. 

He didn't even look at Nino but just stared at his computer's flat screen with that strict look adorning his face. Somehow, Nino liked that guy's mysterious look. It made him curious, wandering what kind of man he was, and wanting to get to know him better. Having a co-worker sitting in the same room was quite a nice variation for the IT-professional and so Nino just had the desire to talk a bit. That must be OK, right?

"You look young for a lawyer. Did you just finish university or did you already work as a lawyer before?" 

"Worked one year in Europa," Sakurai replied, even if he didn't seem really talkative.

Interested, Nino nodded slowly. "Wow, Europe! Where did you work there?"

"London," another short answer.

"London? How nice! I've never been in Europe, how did you like London? I heard they have nice sightseeing places there. Didn't you have trouble with the language?" Nino asked while taking another relaxed sip from his coffee. 

"It's rainy there. And I'm pretty good in English."

Oh, so Sakurai was someone who really knew his qualities, Nino thought. Self-confidence has always been attractive in Nino's opinion...

"Wow, that's cool! I don't know many people who are good in English! I think it's pretty difficult... for me, grammar is OK most of the time and I know a lot of vocabulary since I work a lot with computers and such but holding a conversation in English is nearly impossible...," Nino started bubbling. "I heard watching English movies should help a lot to improve English skills. Though, it's still some passive form of learning and does not really help with the talking problem, right?" 

"Nevertheless you seem to talk a lot in your native language, don't you?" Sakurai had finally stopped staring at his screen, looking at this slowly but surely annoying co-worker. 

Nino chuckled. "I'm sorry... You know, I'm not used to share my office with someone. Usually, it's pretty boring sitting here alone all day long," he apologize while drowning in those dark mysterious eyes.

Sakurai sighed. "Look, I have to look up a lot of cases from the company's past to be able to provide good work in the future. So even if you feel lonely, please don't disturb me any longer if you don't have to say something work-related." 

Finally, the strict, handsome guy with the nice deep voice and the dark mysterious eyes in front of Nino had said a pretty long sentence. Well, the content wasn't really something that he wanted to hear but since he didn't want to mess up completely Nino just let it be for that day with an apologizing smile.

Of course, this didn't mean that Nino was giving up. The new guy seemed to be pretty interesting. Not only his looks fit Nino's taste of men. The mysterious aura around him, made the young man curious too. He didn't only want to taste those kissable lips, no, Nino wanted to dig deeper and get to know the real Sakurai, wanted to find out more about his personality and real thoughts. Maybe it would be a challenge to get through to Sakurai but Nino just grinned. He was always in for a challenge and already started planning on how to find out about which topics Sakurai would like to talk. Grinning, he turned towards his own flat screen and started typing an e-mail.

\- - - - -

A few hours later, Ohno put said e-mail onto "read" status when the artist checked his computer again, chewing a sandwich filled with tuna and salad for lunch.

**\-----  
Monday, 10:48**  
 **To:** Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
 **From:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** Found a new mission

No need to hurry with treasure-hunting, just found another interesting mission. (^o^) Damned handsome, strict look but gosh, those mysterious eyes (I bet he's not half of the good guy he's acting as), deep voice and THOSE LIPS(!!!). New lawyer in the office and sitting in my room until Kimura moved out. Not talkative but we'll see for how long! Already found out that he worked in London before and thinks he's good in English. I like guys who know their talents! I'll try to take a photo during lunch break when he does not notice.

Have a nice nap. Nino  
 **\-----**

Ohno grinned and shook his head. His friend surely was good in finding things to kill time at work. He took another big bite of his sandwich before he put it back onto its plate for freeing both hands to type a short reply.

**\-----  
Monday, 12:58**  
 **To:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: Found a new mission

Someone told u u've got too much time? Or did u finally spread guy-hunting from clubs to work? Must be desperate lately! Maybe u should try a bit more of watching porn for freeing ur head. Anyway, make sure to take a proper photo for me!

PS: Will level up my elf for our next mission – in case u've got time for something like that now that you've found something/one interesting in RL :P  
 **\-----**

**\-----  
Monday 13:37  
To:** Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
 **From:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: Found a new mission  
 **Attachement:** http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm38/sky_fish/Schmu/mrperfect.jpg

Ninomiya Pictures proudly present...

First part of my new mission completed - now look at Mr. Mysterious (and his gorgeous lips)!

Next challenge: Finding out what he's reading there...  
<3  
 **\-----**

**TBC**


	2. System Error!

A few days later, Nino had to admit that his new co-worker, the young lawyer Sakurai Sho, was a difficult person. Even if he tried to find things to talk about with him he didn't really find topics that kept Sakurai interested enough for a conversation and often got told off by him that he should concentrate on work instead of bubbling. Considering the years of work they both provided to the company already, Nino felt like a senior getting scolded by his junior. 

But Nino wouldn't be Nino if he would give up that easily. Eventually, he ended up asking Sakurai for random English vocabulary and grammar and at least it was work-related (somehow) and so Sakurai couldn't just cut it off. However, Nino's tactics to open up his strict co-worker definitely needed some improvements.

"Aiba-chan, I'm so stupid...," Nino complained sighing when he visited his friend at the reception a few days after Sakurai's start in the company.

Aiba just nodded slowly and Nino banged his head on the reception counter so that his and Aiba's cups of coffee clanked from the vibration. Aiba reached out his hand and tried to comfort Nino, patting his shoulder.

"So even think too that I'm stupid?!" Nino whined.

"I'm sorry Nino but did you really think you could befriend with that guy so easily?" his friend asked.

Nino held up his head, rested his chin on his folded hands on the counter and looked at Aiba, frowning.

"You don't think I can warm him up?"

"Well, he seems a bit... arrogant I think and he ignores you almost completely, doesn't he? I don't know... and I don't get why you're so interested in him anyway. He's so... strict and he never really smiles, to be honest, it scares me," Aiba whispered and looked around as if he was afraid that anyone could hear them.

Nino pouted. "I think that he's quite interesting. You just don't know him!"

"To be precisely, _you_ don't know him either," Aiba replied.

"You know what I mean. And by the way who said that I want to be his friend?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry. I know, you just want to get laid by the strict looking young lawyer, I forgot," Nino's co-worker and friend commented ironically. Granted, that sounded pretty lame. Nino sighed again. His whole life was pretty lame lately, he had to admit.

"If you have to crack that hard nutshell of Sakurai-san, why are you still hanging around here with me? You still didn't make any progress, right?" Aiba teased Nino further and fondly poked his friend's pouting cheeks.

"Aaaah~ shut up, Aiba-chan... I just ran away because it was so embarrassing that I just come up with questions about the English language although I already know the answers myself. It's pretty hard to find something this guy is willing to talk about."

"Considering that you just want to get laid, you chose someone really difficult," Aiba agreed.

"Indeed, maybe it would be easier if I just asked _you_ to lay me," Nino spoke out loud his thoughts and Aiba and he exchanged contemplating looks for a second. Then both of them shook their heads.

"Impossible," they said at the same time, bursting into laughter. 

It really was impossible. They were good friends after all and neither of them wanted to risk that by making their friendship complicated with something like sex. It wasn't worth it. Nino reached out his hands to get his cup of coffee and took a nip. Suddenly, Aiba seemed to have an idea.

"Nino!" he said excitedly and his friend turned to him with an asking "Huh?" Aiba continued even more excited, as if he wanted to share a brilliant plan. "Look... if you can't find out what Sakurai wants to talk about maybe you should just speak about what _you_ are interested in. What you're good at."

"Didn't you listen to me these past few days?" Nino asked frowning. "I told you he doesn't talk about ANYTHING that's not work-related."

"Well, that's the point! So you just have to increase the talking about work-related stuff, right?" Aiba arched an eyebrow as if he just said the most obvious thing in the world.

"There's nothing… Or do you mean I should ask him about the litigation cases he's working on?" Nino asked.

"That would be an option as well maybe," Aiba nodded. "But I thought about something more IT-related, you get me?"

"I don't think he's interested that much in IT-stuff..."

"Ah, you just don't get it," now, Aiba sounded frustrated. His friend was missing the forest through the trees. "Listen," he continued. "You need to _force_ him to be interested in it. Maybe when he discovers an IT-problem on his computer or something. Then you could help him and talk to him at least about this matter, right?"

"His computer is working fine. _I'm_ the one who set it up after all," Nino stated in a dry voice, his pride slightly hurt, although he felt like he was stumbling over a huge root in his little forest right now.

"Yeah, I know that your work is great Nino. But for your sex life's sake... couldn't you be just a tiny little bit less perfect in respect of Sakurai's computer?"

Suddenly the forest lightened up and Nino's eyes widened as soon as he was hit by the obvious.

"Oh! OH! You mean...," surprised, he pointed at Aiba who just nodded slowly. "Haaah~," the young IT professional laughed. "I didn't know that you can be such a mean calculator, Aiba-chan, respect! Could have been my plan!"

When Nino continued drinking his coffee with a broad grin on his face, Boss Matsumoto showed up around the corner and interrupted the conversation. Aiba immediately turned red when Matsumoto arrived, shooting a disapproving look at them.

"Aiba-san, Ninomiya-san, chatting again? Don't you have any work to do?"

Somehow, this started to feel like a dé-ja-vu. Or should they already call it an "all-day-ritual"? Nino rolled his eyes while Aiba just stood there red faced and stiff as he apologized for both of them. The smaller man smiled towards his boss.

"I just wanted to check Aiba-san's telephone system to make sure the reception can work properly," Nino said, using his job as an excuse.

Matsumoto gazed at him with a doubting look.

"It doesn't make a good impression if clients enter the office and someone with a loose necktie and messed up hair," he pointed at Nino, "hangs around here like he's in a coffee shop. Go back to work."

In his imagination, Nino stuck out his tongue at his boss. In real-life, of course, he just apologized with a small bow before downing the rest of his coffee in one go.

"I'll go back to my office now. I've got a telephone conference with the printer-company anyway in half an hour," Nino emphasized to create the image that he had enough to do, actually. "Matsumoto-san, do you have any further complains about the printers or can I go with the report from the last meeting?"

"That must be everything. Work hard," Matsumoto nodded to Aiba and Nino and left again.

"Relax, Aiba-chan, he's just the usual fun killer," the young IT-professional said, rolling his eyes.

"Nino!" Aiba hissed squinting his eyes, "I hope he didn't hear you! Do you want to lose your job?!"

"Oh come on...," but yeah, maybe Nino should be a bit more careful. He smiled at Aiba and then finally returned to his office.

\- - - - -

Sakurai was still sitting at his table, looking pretty stiff (but nevertheless handsome like always), staring at his computer's flat screen while typing a letter to some company about something Nino didn't know the details about. At least Sakurai had started to make his place look a bit more personal. There was his private coffee cup with some stylish printing on it which Nino liked pretty much somehow. A photo of Sakurai and his parents (Nino assumed that this was taken at Sho's graduation ceremony at university) beside the telephone. Further, there were a few postcards from London, Paris, China and the USA, Sakurai seemed to have received from friends or bought there by himself, Nino didn't know yet. Some little souvenirs from London stood there as well – a cute sharpener that looked like one of those famous red telephone cells. Though, compared to Nino's stuff that filled most of the room, it seemed just minimalistic.

"Want another cup of coffee, Sakurai-san?" Nino asked. "I'm brewing some fresh one."

Sakurai looked up for a moment. "Oh yeah, please," he answered and Nino reached out his hand to Sakurai's coffee cup.

When their hands accidentally touched, Nino blushed a bit but Sakurai didn't notice. He quickly left the room. When he returned and placed the hot and nice smelling coffee on Sakurai's table the young lawyer acknowledged it with a small "Thank you".

And that was it for this day's communication. Great. Nino pouted when he felt somehow ignored – again – and spun around his chair for a bit. But his demotivation didn't last long. After his telephone conference to give the newest problem-report about the printers, Nino started to sketch his masterplan to get Sakurai's attention. He grinned when he started working on something at his computer. He couldn't fail with this plan, it was brilliant. But who had thought that Aiba out of all people - his lighthearted friend - could come up with such evil ideas?

\- - - - -  
**SYSTEM ERROR**

The next day Sakurai suddenly discovered some serious trouble with his computer, as some strange kind of virus seemed to have fallen on his computer. He didn't know where it came from. The only think he did was opening an e-mail by an adverse lawyer and then almost his whole system crashed completely!

"Ehm... I'm sorry, Ninomiya-san," Sakurai said and Nino listened up. "Could you please come around for a second and help me out with this?" This was the first time, Sakurai asked his co-worker for help.

"Sure, what's the problem?" the IT professional asked wondering. His cup of coffee in his hands he went around to Sakurai's place and looked at the red flaming error warning on the lawyer's flat screen. "Oh..."

"Gosh, is it that bad? I didn't do anything, really! Please, could you just... make that disappear?!" Sakurai sounded panicked.

Chilled, Nino took a sip of his coffee and nodded slowly. "Let me have a seat, Sakurai-san. We'll get this settled for you in a minute, don't worry," he smiled at him. This was his chance to shine.

While Nino was helping Sakurai, he made use of his chance pretty well and tried to talk with him as much as possible. He talked about computer-related stuff, explained how viruses usually worked, asked him which computer he used for personal stuff at home, which e-mail provider he liked best, which hard- and software and which anti-virus program he used at home. Surprisingly, Sakurai replied to everything and there developed a bit small talk about technical issued between them. In the end, Nino even managed to get Sakurai's private e-mail address as he promised to keep him updated about the most important news regarding computer security so that something bad like now wouldn't happen to him at home as well.

"Aaaalright~, just one click left... and I'm finished," Nino finally announced and turned around in Sakurai's chair, smiling broadly at him. Hadn't he just been totally cool?

Sakurai stood beside him, his arms crossed and the upper part of his body leaned a bit forward for a better view at his computer and sighing relieved.

"Thank you so much, Ninomiya-san... I thought all of my last week's work would be lost! You really saved me!"

Well, even if Nino had been the one that had secretly put the virus onto Sakurai's computer he really enjoyed the praise that he got for removing it in such a professional way. When Sakurai finally gave him a thankful smile, Nino's heart stopped beating for a second and he promised in silence to treat Aiba to a drink in the evening. Just as a thank you for receiving that gorgeous smile...

"You're welcome... just ask me if you need any help."

"Thanks again, really!"

In the end, this day wasn't such a bad day, Nino thought. When he returned to his own seat and took a look at his newly saved mail-contact in his cellphone's address book and remembered all of those natural expressions of Sakurai that day like feeling troubled, asking for help, being relieved and smiling in gratitude, it really felt like a big success.

\- - - - -

In the evening Nino stared at his phone again. He was sitting in his favorite bar, the _"Private Hearts"_ together with Aiba, treating him to a delicious cocktail. His own eyes were fixed on Sakurai's contact data in his phone. Nino sighed.

"And what am I supposed to do with this now?"

"Type him a mail! Something like _*Oh honey, you're giving me wet dreams, come and save me*_ ," Aiba giggled, reached out his hands and fished for Nino's cell phone.

"Dream on, joker, you must be drunk," the younger man protested and quickly put away his phone just to be save. It was always dangerous to let Aiba have his finger on your stuff... Nino sighed again and placed his chin on his arm.

Aiba giggled again before he took another sip of his free cocktail.

Koyama Keiichiro, barkeeper and owner of the _"Private Hearts"_ laughed in disbelieve while he was polishing some freshly washed glasses when he examined his frequenters.

"I can't believe that you put a virus onto your co-workers computer just to get the opportunity to talk to him, Nino!" he summed up what he heard the last few moments from Nino's and Aiba's conversation.

"And I can't believe that it was all Aiba-chan's idea!" Nino joined in laughing and pointed at innocent looking cocktail slurping Aiba. "First, he nearly freaks out when I slag our boss off," he imitated Aiba in a pretty silly and overacting way saying _"Oh Nino, you could lose your job!"_ and continued talking while he was rolling his eyes. "And then he comes up with such an idea!"

He turned towards Aiba again whose cocktail - telling from the annoying voice of Aiba trying to get the last bit out of his glass using a short straw - was already empty.

"The most important thing is, that it worked, didn't it?" Aiba smiled broadly.

"That's true," Nino nodded and smirked at the precious memory.

"You really must be desperate," Koyama concluded.

He put two new glasses of cocktails in front of the two guys, saying that those were on the house. Aiba jumped up in joy and reached for the new cocktail thanking the barkeeper effusively. Then Koyama leaned over to Nino, throwing his dishtowel over his shoulder and grinned at the young men.

"Must be a pretty special guy you fell in love with, if you're doing such stupid stuff."

"Oi, Kei-chan!" Nino's expression changed and glaring at his favorite barkeeper not amused, he exclaimed, "I _never_ said that I _fell in love_ with that guy!"

"Therefore, you're acting pretty weird if I may say so! In fact you could lose your job for something stupid like that!" sometimes Koyama sounded more like his mom than his good friend and alcohol provider.

Nino shrugged. "I won't lose my job, Kei-chan! Who would find out about what I did? I'm the only one in that firm who really knows how computers work," he smirked. "In fact, I just want to spend a night of hot sex with a hot man, the sooner the better."

"I think there are easier ways to get laid, don't you? You're a handsome single and my bar is full of pretty people," Koyama let his eyes wander over his big crowd of customers. There were beautiful men and women sitting at each table. Straight ones, gay ones. In Koyama's bar there was really a big selection for everyone's taste. He grinned. "Help yourself!"

Actually, it would not have been difficult for Nino to find some guy for a hot night. He had dragged people home for so many times in the past. But in the end every single one of these encounters had not been more than an unconcerned one-night-stand. Somehow – yes, even if he said otherwise - Nino wanted a bit more than that. To be completely honest, he hated it to have a night full of (at least most of the time good) sex but waking up and feeling that depressing emptiness in his heart, not really caring about the fact if the someone who spent the night with was still lying at his side or had already escaped from the morning after. Nino didn't know if he was ready for a real relationship, but maybe, it was worth a try. With the right guy. Not that he considered Sakurai as such. Or did he? He couldn't tell… It had been such a long ago that he had been what he would call "in love"... However, that with Sakurai was just a little crush. Nothing more. Nino yearned for an adventure. With Sakurai. But that's all. Really.

"Not interested, thank you," Nino then mumbled, not willing to waste any more thoughts on this.

"Oh but you don't really hope for something more with Sakurai-san, do you Nino?!" Aiba asked him with a shocked expression on his face.

Nino frowned. "Don't be stupid, Aiba-chan! Of course not! It's just..."

Of course, Nino didn't believe that Sakurai would be the right guy for him to start a relationship. But Sakurai was interesting, he was fascinating him since they first met. He was mysterious, inapproachable and not talkative at all but he seemed to be smart and interesting. In fact, there was no other guy that fascinated Nino that much lately. He couldn't really explain what exactly made him attracted to Sakurai. Well, he was handsome. Definitely his type. He was tall, well-build (at least what he could tell so far from his imagination what would be underneath those well-behaved clothing) and his face drew him in. He was fascinated by Sakurai's dark eyes, his lips (oh he just wanted to try kissing them). He liked Sakurai's hairstyle and he liked how his hair was shining when the sunlight falling into their office reflected on it. And even if he didn't see it often so far, he totally liked Sakurai's smile. But of course this didn't mean that he wanted to start a relationship right from the spot. Those feelings just must be normal. As normal as it was that Nino's heart was beating a bit faster when his and Sakurai's eyes accidentally met or when Nino noticed the scent of Sakurai's aftershave and got weak knees therefrom. That... was just because he didn't have sex with such a handsome man for such a long time.

"...Somehow I just want to see... if I could get him, you know?" Nino completed his sentence.

No, he really hasn't fallen for that guy. But he was some kind of challenge to get conquered and Nino was a gamer after all. He was aware of the fact that he wouldn't start a relationship with anybody in the near future. But that didn't mean that he didn't need some caress and sex in the meantime. And _if_ it would just end with a one-night stand with Sakurai, Nino was sure that at least it would be a remarkable one. He was OK with a one-night-stand. But not with just some random guy but with that good-looking mysterious guy from work. Yeah. That must be it. Nothing else.

Koyama came around again after he had served a few other people. "Do you guys already know if that Sakurai-san is even interested in guys?" he asked Nino and Aiba straight forward.

Nino and Aiba exchanged some clueless looks. Nino frowned.

"Hm…," he started. "Now that you point it out, I'm not really sure about that. But at least I didn't find out anything about a girlfriend or so... You know he doesn't talk much – just in case I didn't mention that!" Nino answered.

"Hm... I see."

"Not much evidence, right?" Aiba asked.

"Not really," Koyama answered. 

He couldn't suppress a smirk when he saw the sudden desperation on Nino's face. The thought of this Sakurai-guy not being interested in guys seemed to trouble the young man a lot more than he would admit. Aiba fished for the little paper umbrella in his cocktail and played a bit with it before he poked it against Nino's shoulder to end the silence between them. Nino looked at him all of a dither.

"In the end you're falling for a straight guy, what a drama... I can see it coming," Aiba acted a bit over dramatizing. "Poor Nino."

Nino shot another glare at his friend.

"Guys, guys, no more death-glares please, Nino. And Aiba-kun – stop teasing him, you know he can get pretty itchy."

"Kei-chan!" Nino protested. Why was everyone against him this evening? That really sucked!

"I'm sorry Nino. Well, what do you think about bringing Sakurai-san along with you next time? I'm sure he's not that different from other business men and he would enjoy a drink after a long day of work. Then I can take a closer look and tell you if he's interested in guys or not. You know I have a sixth sense for something like that!"

"Kei-chan!" this time Nino sounded grateful.

"No problem. I'll try to help my friends if possible!"

"Aaah, I love you, Kei-chan!" Nino grabbed the barkeeper's hands.

"You don't! You love Sakurai-san!" Aiba teased him again before he collected a slap on the back of his head

"Shut up! I do _not_!" Nino pouted.

**TBC**


	3. Ch@pteR.03 - Let's talk about... books

The following night Nino couldn't sleep at all. Not that he wasn't tired, the day had been exciting enough and going out for drink with Aiba usually was tiring as well. But this time he just couldn't close his eyes. His thoughts were keeping him busy even if he had holed up into the warm and comfy blanket of his bed, tossing and turning all night.

What was keeping him awake? Thinking of Sakurai of course. Thinking of the mysterious aura, that guy had, of the fact that Nino wanted to get to know him better so badly, that he wanted to kiss him just because his lips looked so incredible soft and first and foremost yes, that he wanted to have sex with that guy. 

Well, Nino knew that it wouldn't be that easy to get Sakurai where he wanted to have him – in his bed. Usually, people liked him. Liked to talk to him and if Nino felt like it, it was easy for him to talk his way into the other's pants. But Sakurai was different. Maybe he just didn't like Nino? But the young man didn't remember that he did anything that could make Sakurai dislike him (taking aside that he put a virus on Sakurai's computer on purpose but of course Sakurai didn't know about that so he couldn't hate Nino for it). Maybe, he really wasn't interested in guys? Or maybe Sakurai was just concentrated on work and a workaholic that wasn't interested in building personal relationships to his coworkers at all. Maybe love-affairs at work were a no go for him. There were a lot of possibilities, actually. 

Nino wondered if he just should send Sakurai a mail to tease him a bit. Since he had Sakurai's private mail address now, it would be a waste if he wouldn't. The young man giggled, somehow, thinking of what he could send Sakurai made him calm down. Even a bit sleepy...

Not even five minutes later – at least it felt like that - Nino sat up straight in his bed again, shocked by his alarm clock that rang even before he was able to fall asleep. He was still cuddled into his blanket, but he was strangely, his eyes widened while his mind still felt misty. He didn't press the "snooze" button, sighed and decided to just get out of bed.

"What the... Eh?! Impossible!" Nino squinted his eyes when he opened his coffee box in the kitchen. 

Great. He didn't sleep the whole night although he was tired and now there wasn't even a tiny little bit coffee left. Well, it couldn't be helped, he thought when he went on into the bathroom for washing his face and brushing his teeth.

"Gosh...," he hissed when he saw the face in the mirror. His face. Pale and decorated with huge dark circled around his eyes, "You look great," he ironically said to the man in the mirror. "Like a raccoon... maybe Sakurai finds that cute?" Well, probably not.

When Nino put on his clothes and checked the mirror image again in his bedroom, he began to wonder if Boss Matsumoto maybe didn't tell him off every day just for fun... Nino had to admit that his suit looked a bit crinkled, his belt was too long, the trousers of his suit too wide. Nino lifted his shirt and examined his skinny body a bit closer. He started an imitation of his mother while he was drumming his stomach slightly with his flat hands.

"You should eat more, Kazu, look how thin you are! Do you eat properly? You shouldn't just live from coffee and cigarettes, you won't grow old with that kind of lifestyle! Do you think being so skinny is attractive? You will never find a nice girl to marry," Nino snorted with laughter.

He quit smoking already a few years ago and added that amount of addiction onto his coffee consumption. "And by the way, I'm not looking for a GIRL!" Maybe he should call his mom and tell her about his plans, finally.

Anyway, Nino found himself wondering which kind of body would be Sakurai's type. Usually, he didn't care about how he looked like. He had seen bodies much worse in shape than his. But maybe Sakurai's type was something completely different from him. Tall, toned, or slim and curvy at places Nino would never be curvy at all. Probably, Sakurai wasn't interested in someone who couldn't tie his necktie properly and looked like he had just crawled out of a storm. Well, maybe, Nino should at least try to fix his messy appearance a little. It was worth a try.

First, Nino's hair had to bite the dust. The young man searched for a comb in his bedroom drawer and finally found a nearly unused one. In the end, he looked like a perfect nerd, his hair pitched to his head (surprisingly it was already longer than he thought), only some big round glasses missing. He frowned. Wasn't this a little bit too much?

Nino grabbed his necktie. He put it around his shirt's collar and wanted to tie it properly but after struggling some minutes with that f***ing piece of fabric he just gave up, totally hacked off. He suddenly remembered, WHY he was always going to work without a properly tied necktie – because he simply wasn't able to tie it by himself – and threw it away. He messed up his hair again – this time on purpose – and left home.

\- - - - -

At the subway station he bought a huge cup of coffee which hopefully would make him feel a bit better than he looked. When he arrived at work he yawned. 

"Nino! You're early today!" Aiba looked at him surprised when his friend passed the reception, not noticing him in his half-sleep.

"What?" Nino stopped and looked at his friend. He pulled out his cell phone and checked the time. "Hm... you're right," he wondered. He really was early. Maybe he underestimated the power of the snooze button.

"What's up?" Aiba asked and gave his coworker a worried look. "You look horrible!"

Nino sighed. "I just didn't really sleep last night," he explained. "Since you're talking about... aren't you a bit too early as well? Why?"

Aiba blushed a little, causing Nino to frown. Even before his friend could answer, the answer itself came around the corner. Well, that should have been predictable.

"Good morning," Boss Matsumoto said. 

Aiba answered with a small bow and a broad smile. Nino nodded as his boss examined him with his eyes from top to toes.

"Just arrived at work I guess? You're early," was this supposed to be a praise? "Now the only thing left that should get fixed is your hair and your necktie."

Nino's jaw dropped.

"By the way, why are you not wearing one today? Forgot it? And let me say you look horrible. You should sleep more I guess," Boss Matsumoto pointed at Nino's crinkled collar which was missing its necktie.

Nino couldn't find the words for a reply (which was seldom) and at the latest when Matsumoto let out a huge sigh and rolled his eyes, mumbling something about incapable employees while he passed them, Nino figured that Boss Matsumoto was in urgent need of his morning coffee. Well, Aiba seemed to have the same thought.

"Well... you see... Matsumoto-san is pretty early as well everyday," Aiba tried to look cool when he came around the reception table to go into the coffee-kitchen but failed with that pink blush on his cheeks.

Nino's dropped jaw found its way back to his face. He waited for a while until he was sure that Matsumoto was out of sight again.

"Seriously?!" he asked whispering. "You really do kiss Boss Matsumoto's ass... no wait, literally that's exactly what you WANT to do, right?"

"You are such a sweetheart Nino," Aiba rolled his eyes. "Well, you look like you could need some coffee as well. I'll bring some to your office too."

"Thanks, Dear, you're the best!" Nino answered smiling and trotted to said office.

Usually, since the young lawyer was still so passionate about his new job, Sakurai was the one that sat in the office already when Nino came to work. However, this time, Nino was first. He put down his backpack, started his computer and opened the window for letting in a bit of fresh air. He stretched and looked out into the park and remained there for a few minutes. He ran his fingers through his hair as he started to feel a bit unsure if he really should face Sakurai with this mess of hair on his head but then the sudden suspicion that he maybe worried a bit too much about that let him stop.

Just a few minutes later Sakurai entered the office. He seemed surprised when he saw Nino already sitting there at his computer.

"Good Morning," the young lawyer said when he pulled off his coat and put down his bag onto his desk.

"Good Morning...," Nino answered, trying to fake that he wasn't really paying attention to Sakurai, distracting himself with a simple online game he just opened to keep himself awake. Since no work was there to do so far this shouldn't be such a big problem...

Sakurai sat down, starting his computer and running his hand through his hair. Nino wasn't sure but somehow he had the feeling that Sakurai was staring at him. So after trying to convince himself to believe that he must be hallucinating he gave in the desire to check and looked a bit to the side. Their eyes met and Nino's heart jumped.

"Ninomiya-san," Sakurai began, "I'm sorry to ask but... are you sick?" 

Did he look a bit worried?

"Yeah, I got infected by the virus from yesterday," Nino tried to joke but Sakurai didn't seem to get it or he just ignored it.

"Look, if you're not feeling well you should stay at home. Going to work if you're sick will only trouble you and the people around you who could get infected," Sakurai pointed out and Nino's hopes that Sakurai could actually be worried about him crashed down from their flight through the sky. Nice...

"I'm fine," Nino finally answered, sounding a bit offended. "Don't worry, I won't make you sick. I just didn't sleep well last night, that's all."

"Oh, OK... some IT-matters?"

Wait, why did Sakurai suddenly sound so interested?

"Nope..."

"Then why weren't you able to sleep?" Sakurai asked further and Nino bit his lower lip to suppress a smirk.

"Just because...," of you?! Well he couldn't say that out loud of course. Therefore, he cursed his current dilemma silently. Because even if Sakurai was talking to him voluntarily (even if Nino didn't know why, maybe he just decided to have his polite day) Nino just COULD NOT talk to him about that!

\-----

Of course they didn't talk much more in the following and so Nino applied himself to his daily coffee consumption and his mailing inbox. His mood went up when he saw one new incoming mail from a well-known address. He opened it.

\-----  
 **Tuesday, 09:11**  
 **To:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
 **Subject:** MISSING - Gaming Buddy

Neee~ Ninooo~,

Still alive?! (；￣Д￣) You didn't contact me now for @ least 10 days! Wtf is going on!? Don't wanna game with ur old gaming buddy any longer? Don't luv me anymore?! o(；△；)o My elf leveled up to Lv56 already! But treasure hunting alone is no fun (T___T)... Pls come back~

Btw, any progress with ur RL-mission about Mr. Mysterious? Wait... don't tell me u'r having hot sex all day long with that guy and that's the reason why u don't contact me?!

Waiting for ur reply, you fair-weather friend!! ( ಠ ಠ )

Lonely Ohno  
\-----

Nino couldn't prevent smirking as he put his cup of coffee aside and started typing a reply.

\-----

**Tuesday, 09:15**  
 **To:** Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
 **From:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: MISSING - Gaming Buddy

Oh-chan...

Stupid! Of course I still love u my beloved gaming buddy!!!!  
Sorry for not mailing earlier.

Well... of course I'm not having sex @ work with the hot guy... would be 2 good 2 be true... (/ω＼) lol

U know what?! Up to now he was totally ignoring me but today he asked if I'm sick and said that I should stay home if I'm not feeling well (don't worry, I just didn't sleep well). In the end... I think he's just afraid of getting infected but... that worried look... wish it was for me... (^ o ^)\ Stupid, I know.

Yesterday I put a virus on his comp to show off my IT-skills! Even got his mail-address, private one! Maybe we can get closer now.... Raaaa~ just can't stop imagining having sex with Mr. Mysterious. ME WANTS!!!! But it's not an easy quest! Don't really know what 2 talk about and how 2 get closer...

Your slightly clueless (but still flawless) Nino <3  
\-----

It didn't take long until the next mail of Ohno arrived.

\-----  
 **Tuesday, 09:22**  
 **To:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: MISSING - Gaming Buddy

WTF NINO!!!

1st – U ARE alive!!! *slaps u for being unfaithful*  
2nd - R u CRAZY?! Putting a virus on... OMFG, must be a real brainteaser that Mr. Mysterious!  
3rd - U must be in loooove~ <3 Going that far... OR u'r just really really horny! Bad boy!  
4th - Give ur best! I wanna get a report soon how he's in bed! (>.Tuesday, 09:26  
 **To:** Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
 **From:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: MISSING - Gaming Buddy

Re 2nd : Me? Crazy? Maybe... BUT...  
Re 3rd : I'm NOT in love! No way! (>OTuesday, 09:30  
 **To:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: RE: MISSING - Gaming Buddy

C u there lover boy! <3  
\-----

 

"Nino... Do we really have to?!" Aiba complained when he walked behind his friend in the canteen at lunch time, straight forward to the table Nino had chosen as their destination today.

Both of them were packed with their trays filled with steaming bowls of fried rice, something to drink and some salad. While Nino went with only one vanilla pudding for desert, Aiba's tray showed at least three different types of pudding. Well, he was tall (at least taller than Nino) and so he could eat a bit more, was his excuse.

"Come on, don't be such a pussy, he won't eat you!" Nino hissed.

A few seconds later he stopped in front of a young man was sitting all alone there, his mind obviously lost in a book. At this rate, even his meal would get cold. Nino cleared his throat and the young man looked up a bit puzzled.

"Oh."

"Sorry for the disturbance, Sakurai-san, are those seats still free?" Nino asked and provided the most appealing smile he could. Sakurai wouldn't even have the chance to say "no".

"Yeah... of course...," Sakurai nodded and hastily made sure that they had enough space.

Nino sat down in front of Sakurai at the other side of the table while Aiba took the seat next to Nino. The taller one really looked a bit scared, Nino thought and if they were alone right now, he would make fun of Aiba.

"The food is delicious regarding that it's canteen-food, don't you think so, Sakurai-san?" the young IT professional started a bit small talk. "What did you eat in London when you were working there?"

Sakurai of course didn't want to be impolite so he named a few typical English dishes of which Nino and Aiba had never ever heard of and then remained silent again. So still outside of the office Sakurai wasn't easy to get. Well, then it would be time to pull out the secret weapon, Nino figured.

"Sakurai-san...," he took a curious look at the book the other had put aside next to his tray, "May I ask what you're reading currently?"

At first, Sakurai looked a bit shy and seemed to wonder why his co-worker might be interested in that but then he put away his chopsticks and turned around the book so that its cover faced towards Nino. The title was read "Kafka on the Shore".

"It's one of my favorite novels by Murakami Haruki-sensei," Sakurai explained.

Nino's eyes widened in surprise when he read the author's name. "Oh, I see! Murakami-sensei is a great writer, isn't he? I'm reading this book as well currently!"

Aiba and Sakurai stared at him. Aiba in disbelieve, Sakurai in surprise. "Really?!"

Somehow, Nino felt how the ice surrounding Sakurai got more and more cracks. He smirked. Maybe, this was his chance.

"How far did you get?" Sakurai asked Nino, obviously trying to suppress his excitement.

The young man made a thinking face. "Well... I think about one third of it? I'm not sure about the page number..."

"So did you already read the scene where the main character-," Sakurai went on but suddenly, Nino stopped him.

"Sakurai-san! Pleas, no spoilers! Let's talk about some other books for now. Did you read for example "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle"?"

Soon, Sakurai and Nino were lost in a conversation about novel characters, symbolism and other stuff Aiba didn't really know much about. The young man just could shoot stares from Nino to Sakurai and back again until they started talking about a novel called "Norwegian Wood" and Aiba finally could say something about it when he remembered that he saw the movie adaption – but didn't really like it...

When they finished lunch break, Sakurai was the first who left since he wanted to set a short phone call before starting work again. Nino just stood there, grinning, his cheeks reddened from excitement. He was positive surprised how easy it had been to talk to Sakurai just before. The young man almost couldn't stop!

"What the hell was THAT?!" Aiba finally asked him, frowning, when they brought back their empty trays and bought a paper cup of coffee. 

But Nino didn't really answer since he seemed to be stuck in some kind of hard-boiled wonderland or something like that... Aiba didn't get it. This lunch break had definitely not been funny! He had to admit that he now wasn't that scared of Sakurai anymore but the more he was irritated by Nino. Aiba suddenly felt like he didn't really know his friend any longer.

"Aiba-chan?" Nino therefore asked. "Do you have a copy of "Kafka on the Shore"?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Aiba looked at him as if Nino was crazy. "Do I look like someone who's reading Murakami Haruki?! His stuff is much too confusing! It's no fun at all!"

Nino cursed. "Damned... then I have to buy it myself..."

"Didn't you just say, you're reading that book right now?" Aiba asked confused. "Don't tell me you lied!"

"Well... just a little bit," Nino made innocent puppy eyes. "Actually, I have not read that novel yet and I don't have it at home but I really read a few others by Murakami!"

"At least you guys could talk about stuff that no one else at the table was interested in... Congratulations for cracking Sakurai's shell," somehow Aiba sounded a bit offended. Just a little bit. Nino laughed.

"Oh come on, Aiba-chan, I'm sorry! Look, I'll come around to the reception later on sharing coffee with you and we can talk about whatever you want, OK?"

Aiba seemed to calm down at Nino's words. He looked at him.

"Can we... talk about Matsumoto-san then?" Aiba whispered with blushed cheeks like a little schoolgirl in love.

TBC


	4. SPAM

That day Nino went shopping after work. Most important of course was to restock his coffee and after he made sure that he could survive at least the next month, he went to a bookstore near the subway station, searching for "Kafka on the Shore". Since the book was already a few years old it wasn't that easy to find but with the help of a nice young shop employee Nino finally found what he was searching for. In addition, he took Murakami's latest novel "1Q84" with him as well. Couldn't be such a wrong decision.

On his way home Nino surprisingly got a seat in the subway and even if it was only for about 15 minutes he took out the book and started reading. It had been a while since he read a whole book he had to admit. Lately, he spent most of his spare time with gaming online or with his DS or in front of the TV watching doramas and variety shows. On the other hand, when he told Sakurai that he found Murakami brilliant, it hadn't been a lie. His mother was a big fan of the author and so Nino read some of his books when he was still living with his parents. Luckily, he had quite a good memory for details so he could remember a lot of those most of the time really a bit strange and confusing – in that Aiba hat a point - stories. He liked them.

How far did he told Sakurai that he had got with that book? About a third of it? Nino sighed. The book counted at least 600 pages and tomorrow there was his online date with Ohno for gaming so if he wanted to catch up and make his lie come true, he should try to come as far as possible this evening. 

Well, since this really seemed to be the right path for getting closer to Sakurai it had to be worth it. It had been surprisingly easy to talk to him during lunch break and it had been really interesting and fun. Well... even if only during lunch break. Back in the office Sakurai had been as quiet as before but Nino had the impression that the young lawyer wasn't that stiff any longer. In the afternoon, he even offered Nino for the first time since they started working together, to bring him coffee along as he was about to get some. The expression on his face had also gotten much more at ease. This really had been a success! Nino couldn't stop smiling when he thought of his triumph and especially Sakurai's smile when he had discovered that Nino liked Murakami as well. 

The young man's heart was beating faster and he had to pull himself together to concentrate on the book again. As he managed and read the first few pages, the book turned out really interesting. Just like expected, Nino really liked it. He got off the subway just in time before he missed his station and didn't even close the book on his way home as he walked the next few blocks by foot to his apartment. He almost stumbled over a black cat, which hissed at him resentfully. Nino just hissed back and went on. 

At home he just ate a cup of instant noodles in a hurry which didn't really taste good but had to be good enough for this evening since cooking had to be time saving today. He even continued reading in the bathtub in which he normally preferred to do completely different things... When he wandered to his favorite spot in his apartment later on – behind the table on his floor where he usually had a good view onto his large TV screen – he even forgot to watch his favorite show.

When Nino's alarm clock rang he nearly jumped up in surprise. He shot confused looks around him just to realize that he didn't make it into bed but seemed to have fallen asleep somewhere in between page 254 and 255 of his book. He couldn't have slept for too long. Nino sighed, gave himself another few minutes to sleep with pressing the "snooze" button and then finally got up to brew some coffee and critically examine the even darker circles around his eyes. He smirked when he thought about when was the last time that a guy had stolen his sleep. Not counting the day before, it had been a while... but well, this didn't have to mean anything of course.

\- - - - -

"I know, I know I look horrible, no need to point out and don't worry, I'll leave Aiba-san in peace so that he can do his work properly," Nino exploded when he saw Boss Matsumoto coming around the corner, already opening his lips for scolding his IT professional and the receptionist for talking. "And just for your information, I don't tie that stupid neckties properly because I simply CAN'T!"

With that, Nino went on along the corridor to his office. He sighed. He was worked up. He even felt a bit guilty when he recalled Boss Matsumoto's opened but speechless mouth and heard Aiba apologizing to their boss. Let's blame it to the lack of sleep.

Nino sat down in front of his computer and put off his coat after he entered the office with a tired "Good Morning, Sakurai-san".

The young lawyer already worked on some lawyer stuff and just looked up for a short moment. His eyes widened and if Nino didn't get it wrong, Sakurai looked a bit worried suddenly.

"Good Morning. Couldn't you sleep again, Ninomiya-san?" 

Maybe, this time the young man was worried for real, Nino thought when his heart skipped a beat. He smiled tiredly at his coworker and told him that everything was alright. When Sakurai smiled back and then brought some coffee for Nino and himself, Nino knew that the lack of sleep and everything was worth it.

Again, they didn't talk the next hours but a few minutes before lunch break, suddenly Sakurai asked Nino if he could join him and Aiba again for the break. Nino's jumping heart made it a bit difficult for him to answer in a voice that didn't shake from excitement. Together, the three young men enjoyed their meal and since Nino and Sho widened the topic from Murakami's novels to books and films in general, even Aiba could join the conversation and seemed really happy about that. Nino was surprised to find out that he and Sakurai seemed to have quite a similar taste when it came to entertainment. They liked more the less the same books, movies and music. Only gaming was something that Sho wasn't that interested in ("I'm SO untalented!") but well, he really looked more like a bookworm then a gaming nerd Nino had to admit smiling. 

\- - - - -

"Nino, come on! Concentrate!" Ohno scolded the young gamer who definitely wasn't at his best this time. Nino's magician lost LPs quite too fast in the match he was fighting together with Ohno's elf against a troll and a werewolf right now. 

"I know, I know, I try my best, Leader!" Nino sighed as he called Ohno by his special nickname. Even if Nino was the one who knew more about games in general, Ohno had shown some really good leading qualities and it didn't happen very often that his team lost a fight. Well, usually Nino's magician really was in better shape...

"Damned!" Ohno screamed when the battle was over. Nino just kept silent. "Aaaaah, what are you doing, Nino! It was soooo close! Now we have to start this mission AGAIN!" Ohno really sounded disappointed.

"I'm sorry," Nino murmured but unlike usual he didn't really sound motivated to try it again immediately to cover up for his failure. Ohno of course didn't miss that.

"Hey, what's up, honey?" he asked and this time his voice seemed much more filled with concern. "You don't seem to be yourself today. Something happened at work? Something with Mr. Mysterious maybe? Or did you get scolded by your boss again?"

A long sigh by Nino suddenly turned into a long yawn. "Oaah~ I'm really sorry, Oh-chan... well... things are going surprisingly well with Sakurai, I guess. It seems like we have more in common than I thought! And for the latter one... well, my boss just LOVES to scold me, right?" he giggled sleepily.

Ohno tried to sound strict. "Well, if you would work in MY company..."

"You don't have any."

"Doesn't matter. Theoretically, if you would work in MY company and would not be able to tie your necktie properly," Oh oh, what was coming next? "I would send you to a seminar where they would teach you.. And if you couldn't manage to tie it afterwards, I would fire you!"

"Traitor!" Nino chuckled. That was even funnier because he knew that Ohno couldn't really tie neckties either.

Ohno chuckled as well and Nino heard some strange noises in the background so that he wondered if Ohno had fallen from his chair.

"Ha ha... but hey, the development with that Sakurai-guy seems to be quite interesting!"

"Yeaaawwwhhhhh~," another yawn.

"I see... you don't seem fit enough to talk to me about that right now and I assume you will also be not able to go for another round today?" Ohno sighed.

"I think I'm just too tired... I didn't sleep much the past 2 nights," Nino confirmed.

"You're much too distracted by your crush, ne?" Nino could imagine Ohno's broad grin.

"He's not my crush...," he mumbled a bit embarrassed.

"Well, however you want to call that."

"I think I will go to bed now. We should continue our gaming session on the weekend. Oh and I wanted to ask if you want to come along to the "Private Hearts" on Friday evening. Aiba-chan and I are going there," Nino suggested.

"Hm... yeah, sounds nice! I didn't meet Koyama and Aiba-san for a while!"

"All right. We'll be there after work, so I think around 8 pm at the latest," Nino fixed their appointment.

"I'll be there! Oh, make sure to drag along Mr. Mysterious! I really want to see that guy in person who manages to steal Nino's sleep in two consecutive nights and makes his heart skip!" Ohno giggled and Nino could almost hear the "♥" added to the sentence. "So long, sleep well and try not to think too much about Sakurai-san, could be tiring."

"Yeah yeah... I'll see what I can do about that."

The young man shut down his computer, went to brush his teeth, fighting to keep his eyes open, and after that he just cuddled up with the huge blanket on his bed. It didn't take more than a few minutes until Nino was sleeping safe and sound.

\- - - - -

The next day was a quite boring day for Nino. His inbox stayed empty since no one in the office seemed to have any trouble with technical issues (well, actually that was a good thing). Ohno didn't react to Nino's mail that he sent him just half an hour after his arrival at the office so he assumed that the young man was either still sleeping (he loved sleeping so on his days off this was quite common) or somewhere buying new drawing materials. Aiba was busy at the reception since today seemed to be a meeting with some high up business partners and Sakurai as usual kept silent and concentrated on work even if Nino had already tried to get him to talk. Fantasizing about Sakurai seemed not to be the best idea either, Nino figured after he caught himself in a bit embarrassing situation (thank god no one else noticed...) so he tried to distract himself with looking outside through the window. 

Lunch break was a nice variety and Nino was happy that Sakurai wanted to join him and Aiba again. Even Aiba seemed not that reluctant because of that. Since he knew the young lawyer a bit better now, he wasn't scared of him any longer. Sakurai turned out to be really talkative when it came to topics he was interested in. He also was polite, listened well if the topics were not his favorite, and overall he seemed even more likable. Nino had to admit that he liked that. A lot. He noticed his own bright smile, his slightly blushed face and his heart beating faster when he caught himself hanging on Sakurai's lips – because not only they still looked so nice to kiss but also because he couldn't get enough about what Sakurai had to tell. That guy was just too good to be true. Good looking, gentle (if he wanted to be), smart, and what Nino liked the most was his laughter that seemed to be quite too high for his low and warm talking voice but was just too cute and really infectious. 

After midday, Nino still felt a bit strange. His lips didn't want to stop smiling and his eyes didn't want to stop following Sakurai's every action even if he was just sitting there in front of his computer, miming the strict guy that didn't talk. Nino smirked. Suddenly he had a plan. If Sakurai didn't want to talk, Nino had to try some other way to communicate. That in mind, he turned to his own computer. 

A few minutes later he examined Sakurai's surprised look as the latter one opened a new mail in his inbox.

\-----  
 **Thursday 15:06**  
 **To:** Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** Because you don't like talking during work...

…I figured that I could try mailing you, Sakurai-san! (^___^)/

Just wanted to tell you that it's quite nice that you join our lunch break nowadays. I think you got used to your new job and stuff now, right? To be honest, I'm a bit relieved. I thought you would hate me!

Ninomiya   
\-----

Nino waived slightly with his hand and smiled broadly when Sakurai looked at him with big round questioning eyes. So how would he react now? First, it looked like the young lawyer wanted to say something but then he seemed to change his mind and instead concentrated onto work again. When nothing more happened for the next 30 minutes, Nino's mood already dropped to it's lowest. How disappointing.

The young IT professional stood up, sighed and went to get a new cup of coffee.

When he returned to his computer screen, his eyes almost plopped out of his head as he found an unread message in his inbox. He almost choked on his coffee as he saw the sender's name and his heart skipped a beat and so he hurried to place his coffee cup next to his keyboard. He opened the mail.

\-----  
 **Thursday 15:41**  
 **To:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: Because you don't like talking during work...

If I would hate you, I wouldn't join your lunch break, why would you think so?

Sakurai  
\-----

 

Even if the mail contained just one line, that line was enough to speed up Nino's heartbeat until he felt his heart beating right in his throat. He looked at Sakurai but the other didn't notice, being concentrated on work instead. Of course, Nino couldn't resist asking further.

\-----  
 **Thursday 15:43**  
 **To:** Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: Because you don't like talking during work...

You ignored me completely during your first days here. I thought it was my fault.  
\-----

It took Sakurai another 10 minutes to reply.

\-----  
 **Thursday 15:54**  
 **To:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: Because you don't like talking during work...

Well, it IS your fault... Talking during work isn't appropriate. We don't get paid for that and if someone finds out, I could get fired. I don't know about you but in my CV it wouldn't look that good if I get fired already after my first weeks.  
\-----

\-----  
 **Thursday 15:55**  
 **To:** Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: RE: Because you don't like talking during work...

But exchanging mails is OK ? (^_^)  
\-----

\-----  
 **Thursday 16:01**  
 **To:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Because you don't like talking during work...

Not really... so please stop it now... We can talk when work is over or when we have lunch break again.  
\-----

Nino smiled. It was quite amusing to read Sakurai's mails like that. And in addition he got wind of a chance. His heart beat faster when the young IT professional typed the next reply.

\-----  
 **Thursday 16:03**  
 **To:** Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Because you don't like talking during work...

Sakurai-san really is a workaholic. So after work... what about tomorrow after work? Aiba and I want to go to the "Private Hearts," a bar not far from here that is owned by a good friend. I'm sure you would like it there. Let's go for a drink!  
\-----

Nino's heart beat even faster – just in case this was still possible. 

\-----  
 **Thursday 16:07**  
 **To:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Because you don't like talking during work...

OK, why not? Sounds nice.  
\-----

And Nino's heart jumped. He had to pull himself together to not burst into a scream of victory. He did it! He invited Sakurai for a drink and Sakurai said yes! Nino took a deep breath.

\-----  
 **Thursday 16:10**  
 **To:** Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Because you don't like talking during work...

Perfect! I'm looking forward to it. One last thing, don't you think exchanging mails about that now did cost you more of your precious work time than if we had discussed it verbally?  
\-----

This time, Nino looked even closer to watch Sakurai's reaction. When the young lawyer read the mail Nino could see that he blushed a little. Nino chuckled. Of course, Sakurai would feel a bit caught right now and even if Nino knew that it had not been nice of him to point that out, he enjoyed Sakurai's reaction.

\-----  
 **Thursday 16:12**  
 **To:** Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **From:** Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Because you don't like talking during work...

Please stop spamming my inbox now!!!  
\-----

And Nino did with a big smile on his face and for the rest of the day he mentally rummaged through his closet to choose what he wanted to wear for the visit at the bar tomorrow.

\- - - - -

"Nino! Aiba! Good evening! Wait... didn't you intend to bring along your mysterious coworker?" Ohno was already sitting at the bar and nipping on his first beer when Aiba and Nino sat down next to him.

"He's still busy with work, something urgent matter came in just an hour ago. He tries to finish as soon as possible and to come here then. I left the address and my phone number in case he has difficulties to find the bar," Nino answered, waived at the barkeeper and ordered something to drink for Aiba and himself as well.

"Oh, Nino! You look exceptionally good today! Something special up to your mind?" Koyama asked grinning when he put the two drinks onto the bar, examined his friend closely. Nino and Aiba had changed into more bar-fitting clothes after work since it was weekend finally and Nino wore some really nice looking jeans – not too loose, not too tight – and a black t-shirt under an unbuttoned petrol-black-white-checked patterned short-sleeved shirt. His hair was still a mess like always but combined with the outfit it somehow looked hot. 

Aiba grinned and took the lead when he saw Nino blushing. "He invited Sakurai-san over to join us drinking, Kei-chan!"

"Really? You did it? That was fast! So where is that mysterious guy?" 

"He will join later on. Has to work over time," Nino murmured and concentrated on his drink.

"I see... let me know when he's here so that I can take a closer look," Koyama winked at Nino.

The young man blushed even more when he remembered that this way he would soon find out if he even had minimal chances to land in Sakurai's bed or if his target was just completely straight. He himself didn't find out so far so he could really need Koyama's help for that.

"But please, don't tell him that I'm... you know... that I like guys. He does not have to know beforehand," Nino begged Koyama and looked at him with puppy eyes. Koyama laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm discretion in person," he answered, holding his thumb up into the air.

About one hour later Sakurai finally appeared. Nino accidentally looked at the direction of the entrance just the moment Sakurai entered the bar. He waived at him and it didn't take long until Sakurai noticed him and cleaved through the mess of people. Since it was Friday evening, the bar was pretty crowded. When Sakurai came near the bar Nino smiled towards him and invited him to sit between him and Aiba.

"Sakurai-san! You could finish the job?" he asked and while Sakurai nodded, Nino screamed for Koyama. "Kei-chan! Another drink here for my coworker Sakurai-san please!"

Quickly Koyama turned towards them and asked his new guest what he wanted to drink. When Sakurai ordered Cuba Libre, Nino, Aiba, Ohno and Koyama made quite a surprised impression. Sakurai wondered if he asked for something wrong but in the end it just turned out to be a quite interesting coincidence because Nino ordered the same, usually, if he wasn't in the mood for beer.

"Oh is that so?" Sakurai asked and turned towards Nino, smiling. "Well... I discover more and more commonalities between us, Ninomiya-san."

Nino couldn't answer and just took a firmer grip onto the bar as he smiled back. Koyama leaned a bit forward to Ohno who was just sitting there and examining Nino and Sakurai with a big grin on his face.

"I wonder how Nino is supposed to get that guy into bed when he gets shaking knees already when he's ordering the same drink! Honestly, even if he denies it, he has a quite serious crush if you ask me!" Koyama said and the other just nodded and continued grinning. Fortunately, Nino had gotten his coolness back soon.

He glued his eyes onto Sakurai and watched him sipping on his drink. When he saw Sakurai's lips touching the glass and getting wet from the dark drink, Nino bit his lips and when he saw Sakurai's Adam's apple jump as he was drinking, Nino swallowed. He tried to slow down his running heartbeat by inhaling the air a bit slower but maybe his change in breathing made him more suspicious than anything else because Sakurai shortly after stopped drinking and therefore looked at Nino. The young man hastily fished for his drink and nearly choked on it.

"Are you OK, Ninomiya-san?" Sakurai asked and worrying touched his coworker's arm. 

Not that this was helpful. Nino coughed even more and was sure that his face must be already deep red.

"It's OK, thank you," he finally could answer between two coughs and then turned away a bit ashamed. 

Ohno, sitting next to him seemed to have a quite hard time not to burst into laughter and Nino shot him with one of his famous death glares. That didn't irritate his friend at all so Nino gave up. Therefore, Ohno turned to Sakurai who still looked at Nino a bit worried.

"Ne, Sakurai-san, do you have to work overtime often? Your girlfriend must be worried if you come back home late every day," the young man asked and earned another glare from Nino for that, which was supposed to tell him something like "how can you ask something like that so easily?!" but yeah, Ohno just could. That was Ohno. 

"Ah... no, it's no problem," Sakurai smiled at the young man and shook his head. "I currently don't have a girlfriend," he explained and Aiba and Ohno ooohed and aaahed.

"How uncommon for such a smart and good-looking guy like you!" Nino suddenly burst. Good that he didn't say his next thought "Lucky me" aloud as well.

Sakurai started laughing and his eyes formed cute small crescent moons. "Don't say something like that, Ninomiya-san. That makes me feel ashamed."

But Nino was on a roll and so without thinking any further he started bubbling again, a phenomenon that took place often recently when he was around his coworker. "But it's true, isn't it?" the young man looked at Aiba and Ohno as well as he was searching for confirmation. "You're so young but you're already a lawyer, you know a lot about books, movies, the society... that's impressive!" Nino's eyes were shining and Sakurai looked a bit embarrassed, which was adorable as well. "And you don't only look good in suits!" Nino really had to admit that with the slightly more sloppy styled hair and the more casual clothes the other looked even more gorgeous than usual. "Ehm... I... mean... it's just that..."

"It's OK Nino, I think we all got it, Sakurai-san is really an admirable guy, isn't he?" Koyama suddenly saved the situation while he offered a blushed Sakurai a new drink who took it thankfully just to gulp down half of it in one go. 

Then the young lawyer laughed again before he turned to Nino again. "What about you?" he asked.

Nino wondered and pointed at himself. "Me?"

"Yeah," Sakurai continued. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Ah! No, no I don't have one!" Nino immediately clarified and wanted to take another sip of his drink – just to learn that his glass was already empty, which made Sakurai laugh again. Nino thought that he should stop doing embarrassing stuff if he didn't want to end up as a complete laughingstock.

"I see...," Sakurai answered with a smirk on his lips and then leaned a bit closer towards Nino so that he didn't have to say the following too loud. "How uncommon for such a smart and good-looking guy like you..."

As if nothing had happened, Sakurai went on to talk to Aiba about something Nino didn't get at the moment because he was still busy with clearing his mind from the arrow Sakurai had just shot right into his heart. Koyama tried to save Nino with another Cuba Libre (how many did he drink so far?!) but Nino just couldn't stop staring at Sakurai, unbelieving. Did he hear right? Did Sakurai just compliment him? Or did he tease him? Never mind... wasn't that even considered to be flirting? Nino's knees felt like they would give in any moment and he didn't dare touching his new drink, afraid to spill it with his shaking hands.

"I can't breathe now. I'm losing myself. My time is running out. I need someone to save me now..." 

The lyrics of a song that was playing right now couldn't fit better somehow. It took Nino a few more minutes before he had returned to his talkative self but when he overcame the shock of Sakurai's compliment, there was just joy and a comfortable flutter of his heart left in his chest and soon he joined the conversation of the others.

While chatting with the other guys, Nino smiled from ear to ear and when he wasn't telling some funny stories to make the others laugh, he listened to Sakurai who told a few stories from his time at university or in London. Nino kept his eyes glued onto the young man who fascinated him more and more. Not even his looks, even his just gorgeous smile and his charm drew him in more and more. He had to be careful to not mistake the impression that good-looking guy had onto him with something like love. It wouldn't work out anyways. Nevertheless the idea of getting laid by some charmer like him sounded better and better. Nino just had to find out if he had chances... 

Sakurai didn't stay that long because he wanted to go to bed early since he planned to visit his sister for the weekend and had to leave early in the morning, so after another drink he said goodbye to the others and left with a smile. Nino waived back, smiling as well.

"Wake up Nino, wake up!" Ohno clicked his fingers right before Nino's face who didn't react but was still staring after Sakurai even if he had left the bar minutes before.

"What?!" the young man reacted finally.

"Did you see how he looked at you, Nino?" Aiba asked excited and shook Nino's shoulder so hard that the younger one even started to feel a bit dizzy. 

"And did you see how Nino looked at him?" Ohno added before he began to hum "love is in the air". Then he burst into laughter together with Aiba.

"What did he whisper back then to you? I couldn't hear a word!" Aiba asked curious.

"Nothing... and don't talk such crap!" Nino countered but of course he wanted to confirm the others' suspicion as well. Nervously, he searched for Koyama, who was still busy with other customers. "Kei-chan!"

As Koyama noticed Nino's questioning look he turned towards him and grinned. "Sakurai seems much more talkative than you told us! Well, I guess you did a good job," the barkeeper began.

Nino took a deep breath and made some gestures to keep Koyama telling. "What... what about his..."

He didn't have to finish the question. Koyama's grin turned even wider. "Don't worry, Nino. I think he's not uninterested in you." He winked at his friend.

So chances seemed good! Nino grinned even wider than Koyama right now. He ordered another drink and while he nipped on it and thought about some tactics how to approach Sakurai further, Ohno chatted a bit with Koyama. Then Aiba suddenly poked Nino's side. The young man cringed and almost spilled his drink as he turned to his friend and shot him with an indignant look. 

"What the...?!"

"Look, Nino! Look!" Aiba excitedly pointed towards the entrance of the "Private Hearts". "Gosh... look, I can't believe it! It's him!"

And Nino recognized Boss Matsumoto who just entered together with two dressed up young women. He frowned. It must be the first time he saw Matsumoto in this bar but he couldn't blame him since this bar was just the best in this part of the city. Of course, now Aiba's attention was fully on their boss. Nino preferred to make himself as invisible as possible and so he joined Ohno's and Koyama's conversation while Aiba left his seat, his drink still in his hand, and began to observe Matsumoto from a bit closer. Nino wondered if Aiba would even be that audacious to appeal to his crush.

About an hour later, Nino had ordered another Cuba Libre and lost his sense of time completely. He complained (drunken to be honest) that it was boring without Sakurai and that he wanted to go home gaming a bit before going to sleep. He paid the bill and said goodbye to Koyama and Ohno who were still chatting about something he totally had lost the trace of about one or two drinks ago. 

On his way out Nino picked up Aiba, who still was stalking Matsumoto from just too far away from even getting noticed. Since he and Aiba lived just a few blocks apart he wanted to share a taxi and of course Aiba wouldn't take his chance this night to approach Matsumoto any further, so he didn't complain much as Nino dragged him out of the "Private Hearts".

When Koyama had to concentrate more on other customers again, Ohno just sat there at the bar and finished his drink as a good-looking guy appeared right next to him and waited to place his order.

"Hey...," he greeted Ohno with a gentle smile. "Can you recommend a good drink? I think I need a break from beer. Get's boring after the second bottle somehow."

Of course, Ohno could recommend a good drink. He smiled.

TBC


	5. You got Mail!

After their Friday evening outing at the bar, Nino slept until the afternoon on Saturday. He really had to catch up sleep from the past week and the alcohol did a good job as well. Nino could drink a lot, he didn't deny that, but all in all it had been a little too much for him this time.

When he woke up his head was spinning. He couldn't remember how many drinks he had the past night but considering that he was pretty nervous because of Sakurai's presence it must have been a lot. As for breakfast – or regarding the time more as something between lunch and dinner – Nino took two aspirin and drank lots of water, hoping that his head would feel better soon after. Fortunately, it seemed to help quickly. Then he made himself comfortable in the living room, lying on his couch and switching on the TV for some variety shows or stuff.

Once he felt a bit more awake, he checked his cellphone. There were a few missed calls from Aiba and Ohno from already before midday (was he the only one who got knocked out last night?!) as well as his mother. Nino decided to call his mother back later. Or tomorrow. When he was completely sober again. He went on checking his mails. His inbox was full with short mails from Aiba (again) and Ohno sent a mail as well.

Curiously, Nino first skimmed through Aiba's messages (which seemed to contain only of short sentences like "I love Matsumoto...," "He's such a pretty guy," "Do you think, he saw me in the bar yesterday?," "I should have asked Kei-chan if Matsumoto is maybe interested in guys as well" and stuff, probably Aiba had been quite drunk too). He didn't make the effort to reply and scrolled to Ohno's e-mail.

\-----  
Saturday 11:18  
To: NinoKazu@yahoo.co.jp  
From: Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
Subject: Sorry

Hey Nino, I'm sorry but I have to cancel our weekend's gaming date! Got seduced by a really interesting guy yesterday and will be busy the whole weekend enjoying the fruits of love. <3

Sleep well (hope you don't have too much headaches) and dream about your handsome Sakurai-guy!  
\-----

Nino lifted an eyebrow and smirked. Lately, Ohno didn't really have dates or one-night-stands if you didn't count the date with that guy he went to a gallery with a few weeks ago. Nino remembered how Ohno kept spamming his inbox back then complaining about how boring that guy had been. If Nino remembered correctly, Ohno didn't even let this guy in for a one-night-stand back then. Must have been a real sleeping pill. Regarding that, Nino felt happy thinking that Ohno had met someone for a nice weekend to spend.

\-----  
Saturday 16:45  
To: Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
From: NinoKazu@yahoo.co.jp  
Subject: RE: Sorry

Don't worry, little bad boy! Just enjoy and don't forget to tell me all the dirty details after your weekend of love! ^.~ <3  
\-----

Nino couldn't help but grin. His thoughts quickly were dragged away by imagining to spend the whole weekend in bed together with someone to just relax, make out, relax and make out again. He didn't remember when it was the last time he had spent such a weekend. Well, with all those guys he had one-night-stands with the last few years he couldn't really imagine something like that anyway. It had always been the same pattern. Getting to know each other in a bar or a club, ending up in bed (either in Nino's apartment or the other guy one's, if even that, sometimes they had been so rushed that they couldn't get further than onto the back row of a car) and the morning after either Nino or the other guy where already gone. No exchanging of mailing addresses or phone numbers and not even sharing breakfast. Nino didn't mind. It had been fine that way. Everything had just been for fun, no strings attached, no love involved, just pure awesome sex.

However, Nino couldn't wait until he could try out that kind of fun together with Sakurai. Of course, he imagined how it would be. He imagined how he would seduce Sakurai, drag him to his apartment, to his bedroom, his bed and how he would undress him. From what Nino could see when Sakurai was fully dressed, he couldn't wait to find out how that guy looked like when he was naked. Even if his appearance at work looked rather strict, if someone watched closer, no one could deny that Sakurai was a very handsome guy. His eyes where dark and mysterious. They could look cold and the next minute deep and warm. Nino sighed and found his heart skipping a beat when he remembered the last evening.

He grabbed a pillow and pressed it onto his face to numb an embarrassing squeak he couldn't help but to express. He took a deep breath when the memory overwhelmed him again. He remembered Sakurai's smile, his laughter, his look and of course his lips when he smiled at him. His beautiful full lips he couldn't help but to want to claim his. And, of course, he remembered that strange but pretty exciting little flirt that had taken place between them.

That couldn't have been just to tease him, could it? Even if it had been to good to be true, Sakurai wasn't a teaser. OK, maybe, there was the possibility that Sakurai just wanted to return Nino's kind of behavior and therefore didn't mind what he said but didn't Kei-chan say that Sakurai seemed interested? (OK, his words had been "not uninterested" but that was good enough for Nino at the time being). Kei-chan's sixth sense regarding something like that never failed. Nino sighed and shook his head. Why was he worrying about that right now? Didn't he want to continue undressing Sakurai in his mind instead? Well so let's continue...

Nino closed his eyes and imagined Sakurai loosening his necktie, throwing it onto the mess of Nino's bedroom floor. (Maybe he should clean his apartment before he carried out his plan of getting laid by the young lawyer.) Then Sakurai started to unbuttoned his shirt. In his imagination Nino now gently brushed away Sakurai's hands and took his place to unbutton the shirt, revealing an incredibly sexy upper body. Muscular but not too much, toned arms which Nino found unbelievably sexy and soft skin... Cute little brown nipples, a sexy six pack and a small trace of dark hair underneath Sakurai's cute bellybutton which guided under the waistband of the man's tight blue jeans. Totally Nino's type...

The young man moaned voiceless and finally started to touch himself as he imagined how it was now Sakurai's turn to undress him. Slowly, Nino let glide his fingers from his neck to his chest. He tried to imagine that those hands where Sakurai's, touching him gently. They wandered down his chest slowly over the fabric of Nino's T-shirt until they reached the seam. Nino hurriedly took his shirt off, messing up his bed hair even more but he didn't care. The young man took a deep breath when he let his fingers go down again, reaching the waistband of his jogging pants he wore at home most of the time. He made himself even more comfortable, arranged his feet so that he could reach the lower part of his body even better and when his hand brushed over his slowly awakening erection, he inhaled through his clenched teeth, putting his head back. It didn't last long until he let his hand slide into his pants and touched himself, his heartbeat speeding up and the young man gasping for air when he came closer to the climax still imagining Sakurai doing all this stuff to him...

Breathing hard, his head must be deeply red and his hand in his pants felt sticky when he finished off himself finally but he didn't mind. Gosh... that had been a great fantasy. If reality was just half as good as that, Nino would definitely not let Sakurai leave after one single one-night-stand until they did it over and over again for at least the whole weekend. It would have to become a one-weekend-stand then.

Nino's breath still has not calmed down when suddenly his phone started to ring besides him on the couch. Nino nearly jumped in surprise. Who could that be? With his free hand he reached out for his phone and looked at the display. He nearly fell from his couch when he read the name of his coworker on the display - Sakurai Sho.

"What the...?!" Nino couldn't believe it. Why did Sakurai call him? What could he want?

After the first shock, Nino wanted to pick up the call but suddenly felt quite embarrassed with his one hand still sticky in his pants while his forehead was a bit sweaty and his upper body naked. Nino hurriedly reached out for a tissue and cleaned his hand quickly. He brushed a hand through his hair and put back on his T-shirt, not minding that it was hanging quite slope on his neck now. He hoped that Sakurai wouldn't stop calling now as he reached for his cellphone again, pressing the answer button. He shortly cleared his throat as he notice that his voice still sounded a bit hoarse.

"Yes... this is Ninomiya speaking," he answered the call and waited impatiently for Sakurai's answer. 

"Ah, Ninomiya-san, good evening!" Sakurai said through the phone. "Ah... Are you OK? You sound a bit hoarse," the young lawyer wanted to confirm.

Nino cleared his throat again but it couldn't be helped. When he remembered what he was doing just a few minutes ago and heard Sakurai's voice right now, he blushed again badly from embarrassment.

"Sakurai-san, good evening!" Nino answered, his voice broken. "Ehm... Don't worry, I'm alright. I'm just a bit tired from last night." Sounded plausible, didn't it?

"Oh... did you stay out long after I left?" the young man on the other side of the line asked.

"Well... a bit," Nino answered and before he knew what he was doing words he didn't intend to speak out loud left his lips as well. "Even if it wasn't that funny any longer after you left..."

Nino squinted his eyes. How embarrassing! Some awkward silence between them followed, as if nobody knew what to say. Nino bit his lower lip but after a few more seconds of unbearable silence, in which he could only hear his heavy heartbeat (fearing that Sakurai could hear it through the phone); he decided to break the silence.

"Ne... Sakurai-san," he continued as he didn't have said his last words. "I wonder why you are calling, aren't you with your sister today?"

"Ah well, yeah, yeah, that's right...," now Sakurai was the one clearing his throat. Maybe Nino's words abashed him. "I'm visiting her for the weekend. My parents came along as well today. It's nice, I don't meet them often."

"I see...," Nino said and wondered if he should visit his family again soon too.

"So... you called because...?" Nino was sure that it wasn't because he wanted to talk about family matters, was it? "Does someone of your family have some IT-related problems I could help with?"

"Ah, I'm sorry... no, it's nothing like that," Sakurai laughed and Nino couldn't help but smile. Even over the phone, that guy's voice and laughter sounded great. Maybe even a bit cuter than usual.

"I just wanted to tell you that this evening there will be "Norwegian Wood" on TV. I will watch it together with my family and just wanted to inform you about the program in case you would like to watch the movie as well."

Nino smirked. So their common interest of Murakami-san's novels had made Sakurai think of him. Somehow this thought made Nino extremely happy.

" I didn't plan to watch anything else in particular this evening so yeah, I think I will watch it too. Thanks for telling me," the young man thanked the other.

"Cool...," Sakurai answered and then there was that awkward silence again. Nino held his breath waiting if Sakurai would say something else which he finally did. "Well... then have fun watching it!"

"Sure, you too," Nino answered smirking.

"Thanks. Ah... would you maybe take me with you and Aiba-san to that bar from yesterday again next time? I liked it there," Sakurai added and Nino's smile widened even more.

"Would be great if you came along again!" he answered excited. "Kei-chan is a great barkeeper, the drinks are great, aren't they?"

"They really are!"

"Great!"

"Yeah, great! Well... then see you on Monday," Sakurai finally finished their call. "Have a nice weekend!"

"Thanks, you too!" Nino answered and waited until Sakurai had hung up.

After he had put his phone down again, Nino couldn't stop grinning from one ear to the other, feeling extremely happy about Sakurai's call. Looked as if he finally caught the guy's interest. So Nino assumed that he had made a big step forward to his goal of a one-night-, no one-weekend-stand with Mr. Mysterious. He couldn't wait...

A short glimpse at the time told Nino that there was still some time left until the movie would start so he decided to get clean with a shower. Of course, he had to take advantage of the situation and so while letting the hot water run down his body, the young man started touching himself once more. He thought about Sakurai's warm voice that still sounded so clear in his memory and he couldn't help but wonder how it would sound when Sakurai would touch himself as well.

Clean from head to toes and satisfied (literally), his hair still wet from the shower, Nino settled onto his couch soon after, waiting for "Norwegian Wood" to start. He liked that movie and honestly he even had bought the DVD but watching it, knowing that Sakurai would do the same thing as well right now, somehow made him excited and happy at the same time.

While watching the movie, Nino thought about trying to send Sakurai an e-mail, even if he considered the risk of being annoying. He just started with something random about the movie like his impression about the actors and didn't really expect a reply but just a few minutes later he could hear the sound of an incoming mail. 

Sakurai's answer wasn't that special but nevertheless Nino got excited over it and as he answered Sakurai's mail he didn't expect that this would initiate a long row of e-mails which he exchanged with his coworker until the movie was over for a long time and the clock already hit half past midnight. After Nino had told Sakurai that he had bought Murakami's novel "1Q84" recently, Sakurai was pretty excited and told him over and over that he couldn't wait until Nino had read it so that they could discuss it.

\-----  
Sunday 01:34  
To: SakuraiS@yahoo.co.jp  
From: NinoKazu@yahoo.co.jp  
Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Hey there

I will see how many pages I can read tomorrow. Didn't plan anything else than being lazy or playing games on Sundays anyways. ^_^"

Have a good time with your family and sleep well!  
\-----

\-----  
Sunday 01:36  
To: NinoKazu@yahoo.co.jp  
From: SakuraiS@yahoo.co.jp  
Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Hey there

Will wait for your report! =) See you on Monday, sleep well!  
\-----

Nino pressed his cellphone against his chest and let out a huge sigh as he let himself fall back onto the fluffy pillow on his bed. The wide grin on his face still hadn't vanished and somehow he felt like giggling and rolling around on his bed.

Then he suddenly stopped. What the heck was he doing? He was acting like a stupid school girl who had exchanged mails with her senpai he had a crush on. Should Nino be worried? When the young man cuddled up with his blanked, the room lit with only his bedside lamp, he started to think a bit deeper about that thought. Could it be that...

\- - - - -

Nino let out a huge sigh when he arrived at work on Monday morning. His hair looked worse than usual, showing that he must have had a night of tossing and turning around in his bed and not the right nerves to fix it. Indeed, beside reading a few chapters of Murakami's book he had spent the rest of the weekend with thinking – which really had tired him out.

"Coffee?" Aiba asked his friend and earned a serious nod after which Nino received an already prepared cup of coffee. He nodded thankfully and took a sip.

"Ne, Aiba-chan...," he then began in a low voice, the other looking up from his work with a wondering. "What is it, Nino? Troubled?"

"I'm not sure, but...," Nino continued whispering, frowning, and his head tilting a bit while supporting it with one hand on the reception table. "Maybe... I have a problem."

Aiba now threw the papers he was working on away, concentrating on his friend. It wasn't usual for Nino to admit that he had some kind of problem since he always was the type finding a solution on his own or at least mitigating such stuff with his usual bold talking, so this time it must be something serious.

"What kind of a problem? Is it something you can't say out loud?" Aiba whispered back, leaning forward so that he could look right into Nino's eyes. His friend really had a troubled face today, the young man worried.

"I'm not keen on letting the whole office know about my personal problems, you know? So yes, it's something I only tell you and beware telling it any other soul in this world," Nino answered with a serious look and Aiba gulped.

"Maybe... I have a little crush on someone," Nino finally continued after some minutes of silence as if he had to pull together all of his courage for this little sentence.

"…And?" Aiba stated in disbelief, watching Nino with big round questioning eyes.

Nino frowned even more. "What do you mean with 'and' ?"

Aiba's confused face turned into a smile. He eased and settled back again letting out a small laughter. Nino didn't find it amusing at all so he just stared at Aiba with a stunned look.

"Really, Nino, is THAT your problem?" Aiba made some asking gestures.

"Yes?" Nino lifted his eyebrows.

"Listen... Isn't it a good thing to have a crush?" Aiba started and couldn't help but smile even wider while Nino looked at him confused. " It feels wonderful, doesn't it? One moment your heart feels light like a cloud and the other moment it sinks down your throat like a heavy stone but it's so exciting, isn't it? You can't stop smiling if you think about the person you like, you get nervous when that person is around and your stomach... do you feel that huge covey of butterflies as well? I totally know the feeling of being in love with someone, so I definitely can tell! I wouldn't call it a problem though, expect from if the person is already married or something like that."

"I didn't say that I fell in love with someone. I just said... that I have a crush... a little one, you get it?" Nino said but his cheeks had flushed and the tip of his ears have turned red.

"However you may call it... but I'm right, am I not? It's a great feeling...," Aiba said happily, "And because you look so surprised - I knew that you totally fell for Sakurai-san, it was just too obvious!"

Nino nearly jumped and blushed even more. "Aiba! Would you mind not to scream like that?! Everyone can hear you!" aside the fact, that no one was around. "And what are you talking about? I never mentioned Sakurai's name!"

Aiba sighed. "But it's him, right? Ah~... Nino, Nino... I may not have such a great college degree as you have and I may not be a smart lawyer like Sakurai but I'm not dumb either, you know? I can put two and two together."

Well, this time Nino didn't know anything to counter, so he just kept silent. He was completely defeated by love-detective Aiba Masaki.

"Why is that a problem for you, Nino? Tell me, it has been so long that you have fallen in love. You wanted to approach Sakurai anyway and Kei-chan said that there would be chances as well so what's the problem?" Aiba asked in a sad tone and looked at Nino who seemed to be even more troubled. "Doesn't it make you happy to think about Sakurai?"

"... It does," did Nino say that out loud?

"See? That can't be something bad so don't be afraid of your own feelings," Aiba smiled again and patted Nino's head who backed off a little from this gesture of his friend. How could it be that Aiba was sounding even smarter than he himself right now, Nino wondered,

"I will NOT confess, if this is your next question," Nino said straight forward, glaring at Aiba. "I'm not planning to admit anything. I'm not planning to completely fall for him. I will carry out my plan and that's it," he stated.

Of course. This would be enough. Falling for someone and confessing was just too embarrassing. At least in case the other turned someone down or in case the relationship that followed was just a burden to both of them. Nino could tell from experiences. Therefore, even if he might have a little crush on Sakurai right now, he didn't plan to let this get any further than a one-night-stand. Well... maybe a one-night-stand that would be a bit more exciting than usually because of those tiny little feelings in his chest.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Aiba answered, rolling his eyes and after that both took the last sip of their coffee.

Just that moment, Boss Matsumoto came around the corner. But somehow he didn't act as usual - Aiba and Nino noticed that immediately.

"Aiba-san, Ninomiya-san, good morning!" their boss greeted them joyfully, his face just a wide grin that made Aiba looking surprised and Nino not only that but critically as well. He frowned.

"Isn't this just a wonderful morning?" the young man continued smiling at Aiba and then asked him for a cup of coffee. The other rushed into the near kitchen and hurried back just a few seconds later while Nino was just staring at Matsumoto even more critically, who was supporting his head with leaning his crossed arms onto the reception table more casually than Nino had ever seen him, grinning like crazy and spacing out.

"Ah, what a nice scent – coffee in the morning... thank you very much, Aiba-san! Did I ever tell you that your coffee is the best?" Matsumoto complimented Aiba who blushed, hiding behind some random grabbed papers. 

Then, Matsumoto turned towards Nino, who backed off a little in surprise but couldn't really escape any further since his boss was just too fast, grabbing the two dangling ends of Nino's necktie.

"Let me lend you a hand, Ninomiya-san," he said and after a few seconds Nino's necktie was tied properly – the first time since his job interview a few years ago when it had been his mother who had done this for him.

Nino gave Aiba an "Oh-my-gosh-what's-wrong-with-him" look but Aiba didn't notice since he was completely drawn into watching their unusually good-tempered boss. Somehow, Nino got a bad feeling about this...

"You're not going to scold us today because of drinking coffee and chatting during working hours?" Nino finally asked insecure.

"Oh, Ninomiya-san, you sound like I'm always doing that!" well, he was, Nino remembered clearly. "It's just a too wonderful day to complain. It's just a too wonderful world to complain, don't you think so too?"

Oh gosh, what the hell did happen to their boss?!

"Tell me, you two," Matsumoto drank his coffee while making the impression of trying to get their conversation running. "Have you ever been in love with someone?"

Could it be... Nino looked at his boss wondering and let his eyes wander towards Aiba who still just stood there and nodded.

"It's wonderful, right? The world looks so different suddenly... I never thought that would happen to me in person but this weekend," Matsumoto continued and Nino slowly opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something like that he shouldn't continue saying this but of course everything was too late now. "I got to know someone and it was just... how is it called? Love at first sight?"

Another look towards Aiba showed Nino that his friend finally seemed to understand as well. Seemed to fear what was going on right now...

"We spent the whole weekend together and I just can't wait to see that wonderful person again," while Matsumoto sounded so happy, smiling widely, Aiba's heart broke. Right there in front of their eyes. Nino sighed and buried his face in his hands.

Of course, Aiba didn't stop smiling. At least his lips didn't stop smiling but his eyes lost something that made them shine just a few minutes ago as he was talking about the feeling of being in love with someone excitedly, smiling widely and happy.

"Ah, Aiba-san, don't you know some good restaurants around this area for dinner? And a beautiful flower shop? I would like to surprise Ohno-san tomorrow," the young boss continued bubbling and while Aiba seemed still busy with picking up the pieces of his crashed heart from the floor, Nino's chin dropped. That couldn't be... could it?!

After finishing his coffee, Matsumoto left in high temper, humming a love song from the current charts while Aiba was just standing there, his face looking down and his hands randomly mixing up the papers on his table, pretending that he was searching for something.

"Aiba-chan...," Nino finally said in a low voice, coming closer to his friend. Were those tears in his eyes?

"It's OK, Nino," Aiba answered with a smile. "It's OK..."

Of course, it wasn't but Nino couldn't do anything to help Aiba right now. He felt so sorry for his friend and reached out to pat his shoulder. Aiba let out a huge sigh and as if he wanted to hide his teary eyes, he looked to the side so that he did not have to face Nino. "I just wonder... who that person might be..."

"Eh?" Nino said.

Could it be... that Aiba really didn't notice? Well, that name wasn't that rare so maybe Nino panicked too early? It seemed like he had just no other choice than to confirm later on. No need to confuse Aiba right now even more. Anyway, if Nino's suspicion was true, that was really bad in many ways. Suddenly, his collar felt just too tight. He grabbed the perfectly done knot of his necktie and loosened it. Not only that, a second later he nervously untied it again. Fuck a properly tied necktie!

TBC


	6. There will be sunshine after rain... or so...

When Nino entered his office, he was still alone. He was surprised since Sakurai usually was the one starting earlier. Nino put down his backpack and switched on his computer. There was no time now to worry about Sakurai coming late. Even more important was that he had to confirm his suspicion about the one at fault about Aiba's broken heart.

After his program had started, the first action Nino took was to type an e-mail. He tried to calm down a bit and to leave it neutral since all of this was only a suspicion so far and after carefully re-checking the message, he finally sent it out. He checked the time. Regarding his friend's working schedule and the fact that he now had a few days off made him quite sure about not getting an answer before noon. So all what was left now was waiting... 

Talking about waiting – even after waiting for about half an hour, Sakurai still didn't show up and so Nino started to worry. He felt bad about annoying Aiba now but he picked up the phone and made a call to the reception. 

When someone picked up but didn't really answer, he sighed and asked. "Aiba-chan? You're alright?"

"...," still no answer from Aiba.

Nino sighed. He would talk to his friend about his problem later on. Right now, the shock must still be deep. "Did Sakurai already show up?"

Aiba took a bit to answer but finally said. "No, he just called in and took off the day spontaneous."

"What? Why? Is he feeling sick?" Nino worried even more.

"No no, nothing like that. He said something about family issues. He'll be back tomorrow, so don't worry, OK?"

Nino agreed and couldn't help but being touched by Aiba's nice words although he might be quite troubled right now. "Ne, Aiba-chan, let's talk about everything during lunch, OK? Don't be depressed, I'll try my best to help you!"

"Thank you. I'll try my best as well..."

Nino hoped that there didn't happen any bad stuff to Sakurai's family when he put down the phone. He crossed his arms and let his eyes wander to his cellphone, which he had placed besides his keyboard. Somehow, he felt a bit unease. Even if he had been nervous to see Sakurai again after their phone call on the weekend, after exchanging mails and stuff... he of course was now disappointed that he would not be able to see him today. Should he give him a call later on maybe?

\-----

As expected, Ohno didn't get up before noon. Why should he? He had some time off and like always he loved to spend days off with sleeping as long as he could. In addition, his weekend had been quite tiring. Great and exciting of course, but also a bit exhausting for a sleepy head like him...

He stretched and yawned when he woke up. The sunrays, which fell through the curtains, were tickling his nose. When the young man sat up, he felt a sweet small pain running through his whole body, reminding him on the breathtaking actions of the past weekend. Ohno bit his lip and tried to restrain his wide grin, brushed one hand through his hair and immediately looked at the left side of his bed. It was empty...

Well, that wasn't unexpected either. Ohno remembered his lover talking about leaving early for work but to return afterwards, immediately. The young man had been bent over Ohno back then, his arms supporting his sweating naked body right and left besides Ohno's face, caressing his cheeks slightly with the tips of his fingers. The young illustrator smirked when he remembered the past few days. After getting seduced by a completely stranger on Friday evening at Koyama's bar, the whole weekend had felt like a dream. He wouldn't have believed it if it had not happened to him in person but it seemed that something like love at first sight really existed. Or meeting your soul mate. Or whatever people called it. For Ohno, he didn't want to question it because all that counts was that this had not been only a weekend filled with great sex but more than that he had completely fallen for that guy as well as the other way round. It was like a miracle, the young man thought with a loving smile.

After he had made some coffee (and found a cute note, reading, "Will be back ASAP, Honey! xxx, J" on the kitchen table which made him blush), he switched on his computer. He intended to game a bit to level up his elf for the next gaming session with Nino. Since he himself had canceled their last one and he was pretty sure that Nino had spent at least half of the weekend online while sleeping the other half in order to get rid of his hangover, he had to catch up. 

But first, he checked his e-mails. Not surprising was that he found a message from Nino among messages from his family and some other friends. He bet that Nino must have a quite boring working day – again – and wondered if that Sakurai-guy still was such a pussy that still didn't talk about not work-related things in the office. He felt pity for Nino. At least on Friday it had seemed like Sakurai would open up to him but well... maybe it was just the alcohol, the setting of the bar and at work he was a completely different person. Ohno took a sip of his coffee and opened Nino's e-mail.

\-----

Monday 08:09  
To: Ohnoillustrations@web.co.jp  
From: Ninomiyakazunari@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
Subject: Neee~

Morning, Oh-chan, Still in bed? Get your ass up, man! Or does it hurt too much (do I even wanna know)? How was your weekend? Sakurai isn't at work today (unfortunately... =_=) so hurry and call me on team speak, we need to talk!

Nino   
\-----

Ohno frowned but did as Nino had ordered after getting something to eat, immediately.

\- - - - -

"Why so serious?" Ohno asked Nino as he reached him via team speak. Nino could hear munching noises. Ohno must be eating lunch – or breakfast – right now. 

Nino sighed. Of course, this was serious. It was quite serious trouble. After spending lunch break with a heart-broken Aiba he realized that even once more. It had been terrible to see his friend fighting his tears every time they tried to talk about the situation and soon Nino had just given up. It just broke his own heart and depressed him a lot that Aiba didn't smile a single time during their break, didn't make a single joke or at least some lame comment, didn't tease him because of his – as Nino still insisted only light – crush on Sakurai. He didn't even talk about random stuff, it had just been terrible. So Nino was intended on helping his friend, not only for Aiba's sake but for his own as well.

Concentrating on Ohno, he took a deep breath and didn't hesitate to go straight to the point.

"Tell me, Oh-chan... do you know by any chance some guy called Matsumoto Jun?" Nino asked hoping, at least there was still a little chance, that Ohno wasn't the one Boss Matsumoto was talking about...

"Matsumoto Jun? Well... if he didn't use a pseudonym to trick me or something that must be my Mr. Loverboy who I spent the weekend with. You wanna hear some dirty details? Just to warn you – we really did it often and it was just great! I'm still quite exhausted, maybe I'm getting old but you know, J-"

"You already call him "J"?! OH MY GOSH!" Nino interrupted his friend's monologue.

"Sounds nice and fits him, right? Never mind... fact is, J really likes it hard and he does not need a long break after one round! One time I had to beg him to take it a bit slower, I thought I would get a heart attack," Ohno answered jokingly but Nino squinted his eyes and shook his head to get rid of some certain imaginations popping up in his head – of course, his dialogue partner couldn't see that.

"No no no... stop this, please stop this! No dirty details anymore, please!" Nino insisted.

"Eh? Why not? You're the one who wants to hear the dirty details every time!" the older one sounded not only surprised but also a bit disappointed.

"I don't want to hear something like this, because this certain Matsumoto Jun is my boss!" Nino replied angrily and slammed his hands onto his desk in order to fight the again upcoming imagination of Ohno and his boss making out... which just gave him the thrills. In a very unpleasant way.

"Oh, really? Well... now that you mention it, I thought the name Matsumoto sounded familiar but I couldn't connect. What a nice coincidence! So he's the one that always scolds you because of your necktie?"

Nino ignored Ohno's question and just kept on grumbling. "You intend to see him again? To date him regularly?"

"Yeah, I do. There's something special between us, you know? I really like him." 

Nino could almost hear the broad smile of Ohno and felt disgusted. "I can't believe it!" he said, uncomprehending.

Ohno didn't really get it. "... And this is a problem for you because of... your necktie?"

"Idiot!" Nino exploded, "Of course not! The problem here is that my friend Aiba – you know him, he's a really funny and cheerful guy – has totally fallen for him and after Matsumoto came to work today in such a creepy totally not fitting lovey-dovey-mood and didn't have anything better to do than to ask Aiba of all people in this office for a nice location to go on a date with his beloved 'Ohno-san', Aiba has a broken heart now!" Nino spilled out, not even minding to breathe. "And you know what? A heart-broken Aiba isn't funny and cheerful at all!"

"Calm down, man... You're really not funny today either, Nino. Tell me why this is my fault?" Ohno asked disbelieving. "A nice guy approaches me and it turns out that we like each other. I didn't know that he is your boss and I didn't know that Aiba-kun has a thing for him, either! Nobody told me! So don't blame me if you have to deal with a love sick friend now and better be happy that another friend of yours found someone he really likes after such a long time!"

Nino bit his lip as he didn't know what to answer. He banged his head onto his desk so that everything on it rattled. 

"Nino?!" Ohno must have heard the riot and started to worry a bit.

"I really don't like this development," the young IT-professional murmured into his headset.

"I'm sorry for Aiba-kun but it can't be helped. I won't stop dating just because he fell for him first or because you feel uncomfortable with dirty details about your boss, you get it? We're not in kindergarten!" somehow Ohno sounded pissed off now, which wasn't funny either, Nino had to admit.

"Ohno...," he didn't know what to say right now.

"Make up your mind and call me when you're able to be happy for me, Nino. Bye."

And with that Ohno hung up. Nino's mouth was still opened, ready to protest, but it was too late. The young IT-professional ripped his headset off his ears and banged his head onto his desk again – this time with even more force. 

"Aaah~ That hurt...," he cursed and pressed his hands onto his forehead. He was such an idiot...

Certainly, it wasn't Ohno's fault how things turned out. Nino knew that, he wasn't stupid. At least it had been him who had invited Ohno to the bar that evening and it had been him who had dragged Aiba away from examining Matsumoto this evening because he thought that Aiba wouldn't approach Matsumoto anyway. Maybe it had been a coincidence and maybe things had turned out this way in the end somehow or other but nevertheless, Nino had a bit of a bad conscience because he had not been more sensitive to the situation.

\-----

The next day Sakurai had returned and as usual, he already sat in front of his computer when Nino entered his office. The scent of coffee was in the air and regarding all these signs and "uuhm"s coming from Sakurai, the young lawyer must be already troubled by a brain racking case or something. Nino's heart jumped a bit when he passed his coworker and headed to his own computer.

"Good Morning, Sakurai-san," he tried to say as normal as possible but when his voice cracked a little he knew that he had failed.

"Good Morning...," Sakurai replied but he seemed somewhat spaced out (or just deeply concentrated, Nino wasn't sure about that) so Nino hoped that Sakurai didn't sense the awkwardness of him.

He cleared his throat while he prepared his working place. His computer turned out to be in need of updates so while it was updating Nino used the waiting time for observing Sakurai. The lawyer was handsome like always, even if he really seemed to be troubled and Nino found himself wondering which might be the cause of this.

"What's up? Did something happen? Is your family OK?" he suddenly asked without thinking any further, even if he knew that this topic may be much too personal for small talk at work.

"Haa~ besides that all of them have gone completely crazy they are fit like a fiddle, thank you," surprisingly Sakurai answered immediately after a short laughter, which seemed to be more desperate than amused though somehow.

"Oh...," Nino didn't really know how to react. But Sakurai had made him curious,."You mind telling me what happened?," at least it was worth a try.

"Uhm... I don't want to talk about it. Sorry, don't take it personal, please," Sakurai made his position clear.

That was expected; Nino thought and leaned back in his chair. "That's OK. I didn't want to bother you."

After a few minutes of silence in which Nino finally could open his programs and took a first look at his inbox, Sakurai seemed to try to get eye-contact with him. Nino wondered what this would be about and lifted an eyebrow, questioning.

Sakurai frowned. "I wonder what happened to Aiba-san... When I arrived today he wasn't greeting me as funny like always, he didn't even smile... that was spooky."

Nino wondered if he could tell Sakurai. But the topic would come out sooner or later anyway, right? It might be better if Sakurai knew a few details at least before he had to handle a crying Aiba during lunch break.

"That poor guy has a broken heart," he finally answered in a sympathetic voice.

"Oh... Did his girlfriend break up with him?" Sakurai wondered.

"Nope," beside the fact that Aiba wasn't interested in girls. "He does not have one."

Sakurai nodded. "Hmmm... Then the woman he likes is already married or something like that?"

"Uhm... something like that, yes," exchange the 'woman' with a 'man' and switch the married with an 'in love with someone else head over heels' and the candidate would get full score. 

Suddenly, Sakurai looked quite suspicious. Nino bit his lip when the other frowned and started to dig deeper: "For some reason I got the feeling you're hiding something from me, Ninomiya-san."

Nino tilted his head and tried to look innocent. "You think so?"

"There's something else, right?" Sakurai leaned over his table closer to Nino. He seemed really curious about that. Nino wondered if his behavior had really been that suspicious. "Come on, tell me!"

"Yeah, yeah, suddenly you want to talk about other people's private stuff at work. What happened Sakurai-san? Such a surprising twist, really!" Nino grinned teasingly.

Sakurai indicated a rolling of his eyes and laughed amused. "Don't set me on the wrong track, Ninomiya-san. Just answer my question please," the young lawyer pointed at Nino with the tip of his pen.

"Well... if you insist…," Nino raised his hands like he was giving up, a smirk gracing his lips, "You know Matsumoto-san, right?"

"Our boss?" Sakurai wondered. "Of course, I do!"

"Aiba has fallen for him. Quite serious, you know?" so it was out. Nino looked at Sakurai, curious how the other one would react.

"Oh! I see!" the young lawyer looked like scales fell from his eyes. 

Nino wondered. "You noticed something?"

"Uhm... if you see it from this perspective, it makes sense. First, I thought that Aiba was just someone who wants to look good in front of his boss but THIS makes definitely sense now...," Sakurai fell into a thinking pose which made Nino laugh a bit. How cute Sakurai looked that serious. "And Boss Matsumoto already has a partner, right?" as expected from a law's man, Sakurai concluded correctly.

Nino nodded.

"I see...," Sakurai tousled his hair a bit, which made him look simply cute and adorable in Nino's eyes. "Life can be a bitch, ne?"

Nino agreed when he thought about the facts of Aiba being in love trouble, himself being in desperate need of sex (OK, OK, and a tiny little bit in love trouble as well), Sakurai having some kind of problems with his family he didn't want to talk about and that Nino had had a fight with one of his best friends.

"How true...," the young man sighed.

"What about you, by the way?" Sakurai suddenly continued.

"Eh?" Nino didn't get what he meant at first.

"Are you interested in men as well?" Sakurai asked him with a piercing look that made Nino feel very insecure. He tried his best not to break the eye contact with the young lawyer.

"Maybe this is getting a bit too private for talk at work, Sakurai-san," Nino answered with a smirk and the young man in front of him smiled.

"Well... that may be true, I'm sorry," he apologized.

"I guess we have to go for a few drinks on Friday evening together with Aiba, what do you think, Sakurai-san?" Nino finally suggested.

"Would be a pleasure to join, Ninomiya-san!" the young man nodded and the little smile on his face right now seemed enough for lightening Nino's heart again and to forget about all the trouble even if just for the moment.

\- - - - -

Nothing spectacular happened until Friday. Aiba was still heart-broken and unbelievingly depressive. Sakurai still didn't want to talk about his "family issues" and Nino was still secretly longing for Sakurai and still didn't have contacted Ohno, although he knew that he should apologize for his behavior of the beginning of this week.

Matsumoto's overly happy face and his lovey-dovey talk about his wonderful lover didn't really help to improve the situation either but had reached an absolutely annoying peak. The only good thing that had come with this turn of events was, that their boss didn't scold Aiba and Nino any longer when he caught them talking and drinking coffee at the reception (but therefore more and more often just joined in randomly) as well as the fact that he had finally stopped complaining about Nino's outfit. Even if he sometimes tied his necktie for him again, which was really embarrassing, Nino thought... 

This time Matsumoto came along during lunch break while Nino and Sakurai were chatting Aiba up for joining them to get a drink in the evening. The young receptionist still refused. The last evenings he had used to sit at home watching heartbreaking romance doramas and killing one tissue box after another. And he had made clear that he intended to continue this behavior for a while. 

"What happened, Aiba-san?" Boss Matsumoto asked out of the blue and the three young man startled. Nobody had seen him coming. "Aren't you feeling well? You look quite depressed...

Without asking he took an empty seat at the table, putting down his own lunch tablet. Aiba just stared at Matsumoto in disbelieve, his lips parted a bit as if he wanted to say some words of protest but just couldn't do so. Nino and Sakurai exchanged some knowing looks. Their boss's timing really was a bit creepy sometimes.

"Do you know what you should do if you feel down?" Matsumoto began while he was eating his Ramen with loud slurps. He pointed at Aiba with his chopsticks. "You should go out and fall in love! Love can heal everything, you know? I thought I was just a strict boss and that this company which was build by my ancestors was my life-task but if you experience love... there are opening so much more perspectives," yepp, he went crazy about the situation.

Aiba was still sitting there, his mouth half opened and his eyes fixed on his boss. Nino tried hard to prevent himself from jumping up and shaking Matsumoto's shoulders to stop that guy from talking such insensible stuff in front of Aiba but since he was his boss he couldn't do that. 

"You know... when I first met Ohno-san... it was like a miracle," Matsumoto continued telling stuff about his relationship no one wanted to hear and when Nino finally wanted to stop him, Sakurai padded his shoulder slightly and made him turn around.

"Ohno-san?" he asked whispering with a frown on his forehead. Well, even if Aiba still seemed not to get it, Sakurai noticed it immediately – as expected from such a smart person, Nino thought.

The young IT-professional laid his finger on his lips and gave Sakurai a sigh to not talk about that yet and Sakurai nodded. Then, Matsumoto seemed to have finished his talk, his eyes were still sparkling like mirror balls, Aiba was still staring with a blank look. The boss jumped up with a joyful smile, taking his tablet.

"Well then, my dear friends," that definitely gave Nino a shiver. "I'll leave now. Don't look so sad, Aiba-san. I'm sure one day you will find your true love as well and then the whole world looks much brighter, you,ll see!" Matsumoto took his desert from his tabled and placed it in front of Aiba. "Here, you can have my pudding if you want. Cheer up!"

When Matsumoto had left the scene, Nino was still staring at the corner he had disappeared behind with a death glare, Sakurai was sighing and Aiba finally broke down. He slumped on the table and let out a loud cry so that Nino and Sakurai cringed in surprise and everyone around them was staring at their table.

"I will never ever eat this pudding, not even if it's the last thing that prevents me from starving to death," Aiba sobbed.

Sakurai patted his shoulders and Nino leaned over to Aiba for getting him to meet his eyes. When Aiba looked up a bit, Nino frowned.

"Don't tell me you will let this delicious desert go moldy, that's such a waste!" he said and took the pudding to shove it into Aiba's hands. 

There were still a few tears in Aiba's eyes, which Nino tried to wipe away with his fingers. 

"Come on, Aiba-chan, we will have a drink, a nice chat and then you can spend the rest of the weekend with watching doramas anyways. You'll see it will be nice!" 

Sakurai nodded encouraging as well.

"OK, OK... if there's no other way to stop you from annoying me, I'll come along...," Aiba finally gave in with a last sob and Nino and Sakurai exchanged a victory sign. However, before they could return to work they had to wait until Aiba had finished his pudding.

\- - - - -

Koyama greeted the three men with a friendly smile when Nino and his companions settled at the bar to have a drink.

"Hey Nino, hey guys! How are you? Oh, isn't Ohno-san coming along again? I thought he enjoyed it here last week," the bartender asked wondering.

This was the keyword for Nino. He turned a bit away from the others so that Aiba who was already looking into the drinks menu couldn't hear them and gave Koyama a sign to listen.

"Did Ohno really get approached that badly last week? Do you remember anything?" he whispered and gave his friend a questioning look.

Koyama answered immediately with a nod. "Yeah, there was that good-looking guy who started a conversation with him and after a few hours and drinks they left together. Looked like they had become quite close... you could already SEE all those sparkling hearts between them, you know what I mean? Believe me; I have an eye for cupid's arrows. So is Ohno-san with his new boyfriend tonight?"

Nino sighed. "Well, I don't know that exactly but I guess yes," he made a thinking face and then pulled Koyama even a bit closer to whisper in his ear. "Listen... please do not mention those two lovebirds in front of Aiba-chan, OK? You see... the one who approached Ohno is our boss."

Koyama lost his face for a second and gave Nino a surprised stare. "Really?! That one who always scolds you because of your necktie?" Why did people always remember THAT part?! "And the one that Aiba is so deeply in love with?!"

Nino nodded. "Exactly. Although you could have cut out mentioning that stupid necktie, that's totally not the point here."

"I know, I'm sorry," Koyama apologized. "Ah... I can't believe it... poor Aiba..."

Another nod of Nino. "So you get it, right?"

"Yeah yeah, clearly! Oh my, poor fellow...," Koyama shook his head slightly and then let his eyes wander towards Aiba who didn't really looked quite unimpressed, even if Sakurai tried to talk about something with him. "We have to cheer him up!" Koyama decided.

"That's exactly what I want to do this evening! Depressed Aiba is the worst!" Nino smirked a bit. "So any good suggestions?"

"I could give you some cards. You could perform some of your magic tricks for Aiba or just play cards with the others," Koyama suggested. "Oh, and I will give him a few more free drinks that usual tonight."

"Take the latter one, sounds nice! Thank you!" Nino confirmed.

"Ah!" something further seemed to have crossed Koyama's mind. "And I think there must be a piece of cake left that Shige bought today, maybe Aiba wants to have it?"

Nino smiled broadly, "He loves sweets!"

"Perfect! Would you mind bringing it down? You know where the kitchen is, right?" Koyama asked with a gesture to the already waiting customers at the bar.

"Of course, leave it to me. But make sure to provide something nice for me as well should I come to your bar heart-broken as well some day!" Nino smirked.

"Everything for you, sweetie!" Koyama winked and his friend giggled.

\- - - - -

A few minutes later Nino was upstairs in Koyama's private rooms that the barkeeper used to share with his lover Shige, a dark haired, intelligent but also a bit cranky young writer.

Nino greeted the young man with a friendly wave when he found him sitting in the living room on the couch between piles of books and holding a notepad, writing something down deeply concentrated, when Nino crossed the room to get into the kitchen.

"Ah, Nino!" Shige greeted when he noticed his guest. 

"Long time no see!" Nino smiled. "Kei-chan told me there is a piece of cake left in the fridge and that Aiba-chan could have it, is that OK? He's broken-hearted so we want to cheer him up."

And there it was – a really yummy looking piece of chocolate cake with vanilla pudding, the perfect thing for Aiba. Nino took the piece of cake out of the fridge, pulled off the plastic foil and searched for a small fork in the kitchen's drawers.

"Sure. Maybe you want to take a few strawberries as well? They are in the highest shelf of the fridge," Shige suggested.

"Great idea, thank you!" Nino answered and placed a few of them onto the plate. "I guess you're too busy to join us for a drink?" 

Shige nodded.

"All right. But make sure to sign me a copy of your new book when it gets published!" the young IT-professional pointed towards Shige with a smirk which the other answered with a proud smile. Nino closed the door of Koyama's and Shige's apartment and headed back downstairs.

\- - - - -

"Oh my Gosh... Nino! You brought me cake!" Aiba's eyes got wet when Nino shoved the small plate in front of his friend who had taken a table close to the bar together with Sakurai in the meantime. It didn't last long until Aiba burst into tears. "This is... so cute... Nino... so cute... Thank you so much!"

Nino exchanged a look with Sakurai and tried to question him with his eyes. Sakurai seemed to understand and while Aiba was clenching to Nino's arm Sakurai lifted two fingers and formed the word "Tequila" with his lips. Nino understood, immediately. Well, if someone got drunk really quickly, it must be Aiba...

"Don't thank me, it was Kei-chan's idea and Shige bought the cake," he stated and sat down besides his friend. Sakurai sat across the table in front of him. 

"But you want to cheer me up, right? That's cute enough, ne? You don't often show your cute side, Nino!" Aiba sniffed.

The young IT-professional exchanged looks with Sakurai again who was smirking towards Nino before he lifted his Cuba Libre to his lips. Nino blushed a little and turned to Aiba again.

"Stop talking such embarrassing shit, Aiba!" he murmured.

But Aiba didn't stop. Not at all. He leaned a bit forward over the table to get Sakurai listening to what he had to tell.

"You know Sakurai-san," he began and Nino listened up sharply as well. "Nino can be really really cute if he wants to... and he's quite sensible as well. He just looks that cool and stuff you know what I mean?"

"Stop that, Aiba," Nino said and shook his friend's shoulder but still, Aiba didn't stop.

"Thinks he can act as the cool guy but to be honest he's just too shy to show his true feelings, ne, Ni-no-chan?" Aiba smiled towards his friend who seemed to be paralyzed by Sakurai who looked at him directly during the whole time with curious eyes and an amused smirk on his lips.

"I said stop that!" Nino repeated but couldn't break the eye-contact with Sakurai. His heart skipped a beat.

"He even came along to accompany me while I watched all those heart breaking doramas and you know what, Sakurai-san?" Aiba smiled even wider and Sakurai's smirk got even more cheeky than before when Aiba continued. "He even cried together with me! He has got such a kind heart..." 

"Ooooh... how cute...," Sakurai said in a sweet voice and looked at Nino with a teasing smirk. 

Nino – completely blushed - turned around to Aiba and stole the fork out of his hand. "Shut up already and eat your cake or I will do it!"

Aiba picked up his plate, snatched the fork back out of Nino's hand and turned sideward, hiding the cake like a precious treasure. "You WON'T eat my cake-chan! You already gave it to me! It's mine! Get your own piece!" Aiba protested and Nino couldn't help but grin as Sakurai burst into laughing and nearly spilled half of his drink over the table.

The cake really seemed to be delicious, at least this was what Aiba said after each single bite and Nino couldn't resist stealing at least one strawberry for him and Sakurai. The latter seemed to be quite entertained of drunken Aiba who suddenly didn't seem to be depressed or sad because of love trouble any longer at all. On the contrary, Aiba started to badmouth "that person" who stole his Matsumoto from him (still not knowing that it was Nino's friend Ohno who dated their boss right now) and to make fun of the situation. 

While Aiba complained, complained, and made one lame joke after another, suddenly something nudged Nino's foot. First, he didn't get it but when he looked at Sakurai again, he noticed that it must be his foot who had met his and so Nino blushed. He didn't know if it happened accidentally or on purpose but since Sakurai didn't back off, Nino didn't either. And while Aiba kept on talking and talking, he and Sakurai kept on exchanging looks and small smiles from time to time. If Nino didn't know it better, he would say that guy was flirting with him right now. But maybe it was just his imagination and Sakurai was only amused by Aiba's behavior and wanted to share that with Nino.

"You guys know whut? If he doesn...nt' need me, I don't neeth-him either!" Aiba made clear after a few hours and another few free drinks he had gotten from Koyama in a row and pulled Nino back into reality as he accidentally hit his glass and spilled the few last drops of his drink. 

"Well spoken, Aiba-kun!" Sakurai answered and rose his glass to his coworker.

"Of course! Why should I? I've got enough friends and there are enough hot and nice men in this world... I'll find another one, ne Nino?" like many times before, Aiba leaned towards Nino and placed his head onto his friend's shoulder.

Nino laughed and patted Aiba's head. "Of course you'll find another one, Aiba-chan! You're cute and good-looking, every sane man would be stupid to dump you!" he wanted to raise his friend's self-conscience. Sakurai giggled.

"Really?" Aiba questioned, tilted his head and looked at Nino with puppy eyes from a bit wrong-headed position.

"Really!" Nino nodded and reassured his friend, smiling. 

Aiba smiled from one ear to the other and suddenly sat up again, just to cuddle even closer to Nino, hugging him tightly. "Well, than I think you don't mind to comfort me a little, do you?"

Nino didn't get what Aiba meant – at first. But then, Aiba cupped Nino's face, pulled him a bit closer, leaned down and closed his eyes when he suddenly kissed his friend.

Sakurai's giggling stopped instantly.

Nino didn't react at all. He just looked at Aiba who drew back after that small kiss. Nino stared at him, his head starting to spin around, maybe he just felt a bit of the alcohol he already drank this evening. Then Aiba came closer again, pulling Nino's chin slightly forward to place another kiss on his lips. A more passionate one than the first one. Aiba brushed his soft lips against Nino's and had already opened his lips to deepen the kiss when Nino woke from his shock and drew back just a moment after their tongues have met for an intimate kiss. 

"What... what are you doing, Aiba-chan?" Nino asked whispering and looked at him with questioning eyes.

Aiba answered the young man's look with a bit teary eyes. "You're not going to comfort me?"

Nino gave Aiba a sad smile and patted his head again, brushing through his friend's hair just to mess it up a bit in a loving way. He felt sorry about the hurt look in Aiba's eyes but it couldn't be helped. Kissing and making out with Aiba right now – especially directly in front of Sakurai – wasn't an option and it wouldn't make anything better anyway. And both of them knew that. Nino stood up and pulled Aiba with him, giving Sakurai an apologizing look who just stared at them with his jaw dropped from the surprise.

"Aiba-chan, you're drunk, come with me...," Nino said and breaking the eye-contact with Sakurai he turned around and rushed out of the "Private Hearts" with Aiba dragged along.

"Huuuh! Cold!" the fresh air seemed to surprise Aiba who just shook his head so that his hair twirled.

"I think it's better, you head home, Aiba-chan, don't you think so too?" Nino slightly clapped his hands against Aiba's cheeks who looked at him with a blurred vision.

"You think so?" Aiba sighed as Nino had quite a tough time to make him stand stable while he was waiting for a taxi to pass by.

"You know, why I can't comfort you in that way, right, Aiba-chan? I'm sorry but I think it's better this way," Nino said fondly into Aiba's ear while supporting his friend's body with his arms and shoulder.

Aiba sighed again and looked at him, his eyes again covered in sadness when he whispered. "I wish... I could have fallen for you first, Nino."

"Can you go home alone with the taxi?" Nino asked as one of the cars stopped right beside them and the back door automatically swung open. He had decided to ignore Aiba's former comment completely, it was much better if things stayed as they were between the two of them. 

Aiba tilted his head and made thinking noises. "Hm... I dunno... Maybe? Maybeee not?"

Nino sighed. Well it seemed like there was no other choice. He couldn't let his friend alone right now so he pushed Aiba into the taxi and crawled in after him as well. It wouldn't take long to Aiba's apartment, dropping him into his bed and heading back to the "Private Hearts" right after that. Nino pulled out his cellphone and wrote a short mail to Sakurai in case the young lawyer was sitting there and waiting until he and Aiba came back again. "I'm sorry, brb"

\- - - - -

Because of the traffic, it took Nino a bit longer than expected to return to the bar after dropping Aiba at home, bringing him to bed safely and placing a glass of water and some aspirin beside his bed knowingly about his friend's condition the next morning. Changing Aiba's clothes had turned out a bit difficult as well since the young receptionist didn't seem to have any coordination left and just kept giggling and twisting when Nino pulled of his clothes and accidentally tickled him. 

Nino jumped out of the taxi and hurried back into the "Private Hearts" about an hour later, hoping that Sakurai was still waiting there. He still wanted to spend the rest of the evening chatting with him now that they had gone drinking together...

He didn't receive a message or anything about telling him that Sakurai was sick of waiting and wanted to head home but when Nino entered the bar and headed to their former place at the table near the bar again, Sakurai wasn't there. The glasses where empty, one of the waiters just came along to pick them up. When Nino let his eyes wander across the room, he didn't see Sakurai either. Well since the light was dim he didn't see well so he couldn't be that sure.

Nino hurried to the bar.

"Kei-chan, did you see Sakurai?" he asked but Koyama just shrugged his shoulders and suggested that Nino should look at the restroom maybe.

Nino did what Koyama suggested. The small corridor guiding to the restrooms was even darker than the rest of the bar. When Nino entered the room, asking Sakurai's name, he didn't get any answer, so he left again. He just wanted to leave the corridor to check the dancing mass again but suddenly someone grabbed his wrist and held him back.

When the young IT-professional turned around in surprise, he felt another hand clutching his other wrist, the grips around both wrists enforced a bit and suddenly he found himself pinned to the narrow and dark corridor's wall.

"What...," he wanted to ask but he couldn't get more out of his throat which felt quite dry suddenly as his heartbeat started to speed up. 

Nino didn't need to ask who it was, since he already had noticed. Not only because of the dim light from the bar that reflected on the familiar man's hair and face who was standing there, shoving his body closer and closer to Nino's until their faces were just a few inches away from each other. There was also that slight but specific, alluring scent of that person he smelled every time he entered his office in the morning, mixed with a light note of rum and coke.

"Sakurai-san...," Nino whispered hoarsely. 

The young lawyer's face came even closer and Nino felt like Sakurai's eyes were going to pierce him. Then, Sakurai turned his head a bit and his body came closer even more as he placed his lips – those lips he wanted to kiss so badly – next to Nino's ear. He could feel the vibrations of the floor which came from the dance music that was played in the bar at that late hour.

"Ne, Ninomiya... What was that with Aiba right now? What did you two do?" Sakurai asked in a low voice.

Nino shivered slightly and for a moment his heart seemed to stop beating completely.

"Tell me…," Sakurai continued with a hoarse voice, his lips slightly touching Nino's ear, the touch giving him weak knees so that he had to struggle to keep standing properly.

"Nothing," Nino answered as silent as Sakurai. He felt the other's lips forming a smile besides his ear. Then Sakurai drew back until he could make eye contact with Nino again.

"Really?" he asked. "For me it looked like you wanted to make me jealous or something...," a smirk danced on Sakurai's full lips.

Nino gulped and held his breath for a moment before he released it again. He didn't really know what to respond so he was shocked but glad at the same time when Sakurai continued.

"I thought you have a thing for me," he started, releasing the forceful grip from Nino's wrists. He brushed over them with his fingertips, down and up again so that his fingers could entwine with Nino's slowly who gasped as he felt the warmth of Sakurai's hands in his palms. "Don't tell me, I got it all wrong... I saw your looks, I realized it when you tried hard to appear interesting for me... you did a lot of things to approach me secretly, didn't you?"

"You must be drunk as well, Sakurai-san," Nino whispered, trying to sound calm and not caring at all. 

Of course, he wouldn't just admit so easily what Sakurai was saying, even if the young man was completely right.

"I didn't drink that much, don't worry," Sakurai answered with a smirk. "Now tell me... is there something going on between you and Aiba?"

Nino laughed shortly. 

"Of course not! Didn't you see how much in love he is with Boss Matsumoto? He just kissed me because he was drunk and I sat right next to him. Be thankful that you were not sitting in my place!" he answered cheekily.

"You didn't seem so uncomfortable with kissing him tough," Sakurai dug deeper.

"What do you think should I have done?" Nino asked. "Punched him? I'm not such a bad guy."

"That far I've gotten by myself, thank you," Sakurai's smirk was at least as cheeky as Nino's when he leaned forward again.

"What are you...," doing? Nino wanted to ask, his voice shaking a bit since he finally had gotten really nervous and wasn't able to hide it any longer, but he couldn't finish his sentence as he suddenly felt Sakurai's lips pressed against his own... 

His heart skipped a beat.

Their kiss tasted a bit like Cuba Libre, sharing the same taste of cocktails suddenly seemed to get a completely new meaning, Nino joked in his head. His lips suddenly curled into a smirk just before Sakurai pressed his lips onto Nino's with even more force, opening them slightly to release his tongue, which licked slightly over Nino's lips to beg for entrance.

Nino moaned silently and his knees got even weaker. Thanks to Sakurai's body who had moved as close to him so that Nino was already pressed against the wall completely, not in danger to sink down from weak knees, his position was fixed. Nino could feel the heat of Sakurai's body. He enforced the connection of their hands and finally parted his lips for Sakurai to deepen the kiss. Their tongues met and started a small teasing play, their lips brushed against each other more and more often, it just felt like they weren't able to stop, no matter how hard they would try. 

Of course, sometimes they had to part to catch some air but those moments didn't last long and were accompanied with passionate blurred looks as their eyes met a second before their kisses continued. Both of them moaned and seemed not to get enough of each other. They pressed their lips together, their bodies. They had tangled their legs as much as possible in their standing position and Nino could even feel Sakurai's arousal pressing against his own already hard member, which made him moan again. 

Their hands had started to examine each other's body. While Nino's one hand played with Sakurai's hair in his nape, his other had already found its way under Sakurai's T-shirt to touch his bare chest. Sakurai's skin felt soft and hot. He stroke over Sakurai's pecs, which turned him on even more and pressed his own body even stronger against Sakurai. The young lawyer's hands had found their way to grope Nino's ass a bit teasingly and after that wandered up his sides, first over the fabric of his shirt, until his hands lay in Nino's nape to pull him closer into their hot kiss. 

Nino gasped for air as he felt like his heart would explode. Although it was hot, he had started to shiver lightly from the excitement and when Sakurai let slide his hands down to guide them under Nino's shirt for caressing the naked skin of his belly, he shivered even more. Shortly after Sakurai let his hands rest on Nino's small hips, his grip strong but not hurting. Nino moaned into their kiss and drew back a little to throw back his head as he felt Sakurai rubbing against his jeans. His heartbeat was faster than he ever recalled it to have been, his mind felt blurry, his lips were hot and wet from his and Sakurai's saliva, the scent of Sakurai's aftershave as well as rum and coke made him feel dizzy in a good way.

Sakurai laid his lips onto Nino's exposed neck to nuzzle which gave Nino another shiver. He moaned quite loud again so that Sakurai smirked and couldn't prevent a small chuckle when the thought crossed his mind that he was the one making Nino react like this. Sakurai lifted Nino's chin again, looked into his glassy eyes at least with as much passion as Nino himself looked at the other man right now and kissed him again, fiercely.

When they stopped again, Sakurai brushed his lips slightly against Nino's ear, causing another pleasured shiver.

"My place or yours?" he asked whispering.

A few seconds later, after they had paid the bill, Nino and Sakurai left the "Private Hearts" together.

TBC


	7. Someone who's going to fu** me addressing me that politely sounds quite weird...

Nino banged his head at the door of his apartment as Sakurai rushed a bit too much to push the younger man through the finally opened door.

"Ouch," he hissed, holding his head for a moment.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" Sakurai immediately apologized but didn't let go off Nino's hips, on which he had his hands on already since the young man started searching for his keys in his pocket.

"It's OK, don't worry," Nino answered quickly when they entered. He turned on the lights, got rid of his shoes (so did Sakurai) and then turned around towards his guest again, anticipating. 

He carelessly threw his keys behind him onto the shoe cabinet in the corridor without giving a shit as they crashed down to the floor instead and immediately put his hands onto Sakurai's shoulders to remove his jacket. Sakurai went a step closer to Nino and pulled off the short-sleeved shirt he was wearing over his black long-sleeve as well. Getting pressed against the hallway's wall after that, the younger one gasped and looked up to Sakurai, his eyes glassy and filled with desire. 

It didn't last long until Sakurai's hands found their way under Nino's shirt to push it up so that Nino lifted his hands to let Sakurai pull his shirt over his head completely. The young lawyer dropped the shirt to the floor without paying attention and started examining Nino's naked body as the younger one showed him to get rid of his own shirt too. After Sakurai's shirt had found a place somewhere on the hallway floor as well, the young lawyer laid his free hand onto Nino's face, caressing his cheeks. His eyes went up from Nino's collarbones, his adam's apple, which jumped as he swallowed, and his chin with that cute mole on it. He looked at his slightly parted lips that trembled a bit from excitement. Finally, he met the young man's eyes. 

A second later, Sakurai leaned forward, brushing his lips against Nino's, passionate and even a bit forcefully. Nino moaned as he parted his lips to invite Sakurai to a deeper kiss putting his arms around the other one's naked body to feel Sakurai's muscular back. As they haven't touched or kissed during the drive in the taxi from the "Private Hearts" to Nino's place, they already seemed to have withdrawal symptoms and both were eager to change that. After another kiss, Nino gasped for air. He cupped Sakurai's face and searched for eye-contact. As their faces got closer again, Nino put his fingers onto Sakurai's beautiful lips and laid his forehead against the other man's, his eyes closed. The young lawyer's hands caressed Nino's cheeks and neck. 

"I want you so much," Nino whispered, not sure, if Sakurai had even heard it because his heartbeat was so loud in his ears that he almost didn't hear his own words.

"I know...," Sakurai replied with a smirk. "And I want you too," he said, kissing Nino's chin.

"Now...," Nino continued, his voice sounding a bit hoarse. 

He lifted one of his feet and put it around Sakurai's waist, bringing the young man closer so that their lower bodies pressed against each other and both could clearly feel their erection underneath their jeans. Sakurai moaned. He started to cover Nino's neck and chest with small kisses and slightly teasing bites when he took the soft white skin of the other between his teeth to nibble on it.

He finally groped Nino's ass and lifted the smaller one to his hips, Nino immediately clenching his legs around him. Sakurai carried Nino a few steps into the living room, searching for the couch. He almost tripped over something he couldn't see because he was distracted by Nino's hands around his neck, playing with the hair in his nape as well as Nino's lips which were just so addictive that he couldn't stop kissing him. The young men struggled to the couch and as they managed to get there Sakurai let Nino lie down on his back to crawl over him. He didn't hesitate to nestle at the waistband of Nino's jeans and opened the button as well as the zipper quickly so that he could easily pull off the young man's trousers. As Nino tried to get up to reach for Sakurai's pants, the young lawyer pressed him back onto the couch's pillows, piercing him with a teasing smile. He then quickly got rid of his clothes as well on his own.

Finally, when Sakurai paid full attention to Nino again, he pulled down the young man's shorts to free his hardened member. Nino moaned deeply when he felt Sakurai's hands touching his sensible skin, brushing up and down his length slightly. Nino struggled again to sit up and when Sakurai got an idea of what the other had planned, he let go off him and let him do as he pleased. Nino sat up and leaned back at the couch's backrest, opening his legs so that Sakurai could get easier access to his freed erection. The young lawyer slipped from the couch and got down in front of Nino, pressing his knees apart even a bit more before he put his hands around Nino's hips to pull him a bit closer to the edge of the couch. Nino threw back his head as soon as Sakurai touched the skin of his inner thighs and brushed up until he reached his arousal again. Before he stroke it softly again, he teased Nino a bit longer with caressing his navel and following the small trace of hairs from his underbelly to his hardened member. He finally reached it again, began to stroke it, first carefully, and then he finally started to pump it more intense. 

Nino's hands placed on Sakurai's shoulders suddenly clenched. His hips started trembling when Sakurai placed a few teasing kisses on the head of Nino's member, which was already leaking from precum, to give him a taste of what would follow. After he had licked Nino's full length up and down with his tongue, he finally let it slide into his mouth completely. Nino arched his back and then he leaned forward a little in surprise. His hands found their way into Sakurai's hair so that he could guide his head a little regarding the speed of his movements. 

"If you...," Nino started, his face deeply red and his voice almost fading. "If you keep on like this, I'll come just in a few seconds," he tried to warn the young man but Sakurai just shot a confident, piercing look up to the other as if he took this as a challenge. 

Sakurai continued and quickly sped up to drive Nino over the edge as quickly as he could, using his lips and tongue, skilled. 

"Gosh!" Nino cried out, when he finally released into Sakurai's mouth who pressed the young man's trembling hips down onto the couch, to have a little control over his twitching, Nino fell against the backrest again, his hands releasing Sakurai's hair. 

His breath stopped for a second and his body felt just hot. Putting his arms over his eyes, Nino concentrated onto trying to stop his hands from shivering. It has been a while since someone had touched him like that and so, experiencing this felt almost like a first time for him.

Nino quickly recovered as he looked at Sakurai who was wiping his lips after he had swallowed all of the younger one's cum. Sakurai looked so damned sexy with his well-built body, those strong muscular arms and that dirty smirk on his oh so kissable lips. He seemed to beam from confidence, which made him appear even more attractive. Nino blushed again, tried to calm down his heartbeat and suddenly, he felt the urge of covering his skinny body. He somehow felt ashamed of it now, comparing himself to Sakurai but he quickly pushed away that thought and therefore opened his arms to invite Sakurai for an embrace. He hugged the other tightly, when Sakurai climbed onto the couch to sit beside him and using his tongue, Nino started another passionate kiss.

It seemed like this turned on both of them even more and it didn't last long until Nino let his hands discover Sakurai's body again and when the young lawyer wanted to lay down on top of the younger man, they soon noticed that there was just too little space on the couch to properly make out. Sakurai broke their kiss and looked right into Nino's glassy eyes who looked like he was in a completely different world right now. His cheeks blushed.

"More space?" Sakurai simply asked.

"I'll show you the bedroom," Nino replied.

When Nino shivering struggled to get up from the couch, his breath uncontrolled and his knees still feeling weak like pudding from the former blowjob, Sakurai didn't hesitate for long to simply lift him up. He was holding him in his arms and while Nino giggling shook his head, his one arm wrapped around Sakurai's shoulders and the other pointing into the direction of his bedroom, Sakurai carried him thereto as a bridegroom carried his bride.

Sakurai placed Nino on his bed a bit stormily, before he went down on it as well. The bed bounced and their bodies were pressed together even more. 

"Ninomiya-san," Sakurai moaned into Nino's ear when he lowered his body onto Nino's and began to nuzzle his neck.

"Stop calling me like that," Nino chuckled when a pleasured shiver ran over his body again, he turned his head a bit into the other direction to expose a bit more skin to Sakurai. "Sounds quite weird if someone who's going to fuck me still addresses me that politely... Nino is just fine."

"Alright, Nino," Sakurai teasingly replied. "Then please call me Sho."

"Shut up and fuck me already, Sho!" Nino teased back with a smirk and threw his head back into the pillow when Sakurai carefully let his hands wander over Nino's exposed body again to brush his sides.

Nino in return brushed his hands over Sakurai's sexy body, which turned him on so much, his shoulders, his back and his hips. The young lawyer moaned into their kiss when Nino's touches reached his arousal and pressed even stronger against Nino's hand. 

"You have a condom and lube?" Sakurai asked, his eyes fixing on Nino's. 

The younger one nodded. "Drawer..."

Sakurai quickly crawled a few inches towards Nino's bedside drawer and searched for the desired items. It didn't take him long to prepare himself properly and had returned to Nino in the blink of an eye. He pushed Nino's legs apart carefully but certain, let his hands slide down Nino's inner thighs, causing the younger one to shiver and finally began to circle Nino's entrance with his lubed finger. While his other hand reached for Nino's hand to hold it tight, he soon pushed in his finger slowly to let Nino get used to it. The young man whimpered a bit, frowning, and as his breath settled down a few seconds later, Sakurai started to move his finger in and out, first slowly, then speeding up bit by bit, soon adding a second and third finger, driving Nino almost crazy when he finally found that special spot that made Nino cry even louder. 

"Sho, hurry," Nino begged when Sakurai twisted his fingers deep within the younger man's body. 

Nino squeezed Sakurai's hand to ensure the other that he was ready for more and Sakurai didn't need to be told twice. He let his fingers slip out and spread some lube over the condom he was already wearing. Sakurai's arousal was big and hard and pleading for release when he placed himself between Nino's legs, pushing them apart even a bit more after the young lawyer had reached for a pillow that he placed under Nino's butt when he lifted the younger one's hips. He held Nino's knees and pressed them a bit towards the lying man's body so that he could enter more easily. 

The younger one almost screamed from excitement when Sakurai first pushed in the tip of his member slowly to not hurt the other. Although Nino was well prepared, he felt hot and tight around Sakurai's cock. The young lawyer groaned when he had fully entered Nino and let go off Nino's shivering knees, who immediately wrapped his legs around Sakurai's body and after both of them had gotten used to the sensation, Sakurai leaned a bit forward to cover the younger one's body with his. 

He could feel Nino's again hardened member pressing against his six-pack. Sakurai reached out to Nino to brush away the slightly sweaty hair from his forehead. He placed a small kiss on Nino's lips.

"Are you OK?" he asked concerning but knowing that he would not be able to hold back any longer even if Nino were not.

Luckily, the other just nodded.

Both of them were too excited for another passionate kiss so Sakurai raised his upper body again, grabbed Nino's hips to hold him in position and pulled out slowly before he entered him again, groaning and throwing his head back into his neck.

"You feel... so good...," Sakurai moaned as he repeated his movement again and again, pushing right back into Nino's hot body, causing the other to whine as well each time Sakurai met that one special spot. 

Nino's hands grabbed the fabric of his bed sheet and he slightly clenched his teeth when Sakurai slowly raised the speed of his movement. Pushing in and out his length, Sakurai's grip around Nino's hips strengthened more and more. The younger one put his hands onto Sakurai's, when the other rocked into his body. Their rhythm and their moaning which filled the room almost drove Nino crazy.

After a few minutes, Sakurai suddenly stopped, bent down and putting his hands under Nino's back, he lifted him, guiding him into a sitting position. He himself sat down on his feet, his knees parted so that Nino could sink down onto Sakurai's length as much as possible. Nino put his arms around Sakurai's neck, holding him tightly as he felt the other one's hot cock driving even deeper into his body. He groaned and frowned as he felt a short sweet pain with each thrust. Nino then tried to find space to support his feet so that he could start moving on his own, letting Sakurai's hard member leave and enter him repeatedly. 

Sakurai supported Nino with holding his back and guiding him until Nino had found enough hold and his own rhythm. He placed his hands on Sakurai's knees a bit behind him to support his body and leaned back as much as possible so that he could see Sakurai's heated face when he popped up and down his length. Sakurai groaned and his sweat moistened his body as well as his face. He was so damned sexy…

Sakurai let his hands wander over Nino's skinny body, starting from his chest where he teasingly brushed over his nipples a few times before he let slide his fingers down Nino's rips and placed them onto the young man's hips finally. First, he let Nino guide the speed but soon he seemed eager for more so that he enforced his grip a bit to speed up Nino's movements. The younger one cried out when Sakurai started to slam faster and even deeper in his body and Nino covered the tip of his hard aching member with one of his hands. It wouldn't last long until both of them would reach their limit.

Nino's body started to clench around Sakurai's hard cock, as he finally came into his hand. Sakurai shortly after stopped moving and released into the condom as well, his head leaned forward against Nino's chest who wrapped his arms around Sakurai's neck again, holding the other as close as possible. Sakurai even cried Nino's name against the younger one's chest as the repeatedly tightening body milked his member to the last bit.

After a few seconds of shivering and feeling the afterglow of their orgasm, Sakurai guided Nino's back down onto the bed. Nino's breath was irregular and still fast, his whole body trembling. Slowly, Sakurai turned to search for tissues to clean himself as well as a deeply blushed Nino afterwards who had still his tummy and his hand covered by his own cum. When Sakurai wiped Nino's soft skin, he started to giggle from the tickling sensation. Afterwards, Sakurai finally lay down beside him. He stretched his arms and let out a satisfied sigh. Nino couldn't prevent a smile on his lips as he felt the wave of joy rolling over his whole body. 

The young lawyer looked quite exhausted too but satisfied and happy, Nino could tell, happy that he seemed to feel the same as him. Sakurai's eyes were now closed; his breath slowly but surely calming down. 

Nino placed his head onto Sakurai's stretched right arm after he reached for the blanket to put it over them so that they wouldn't catch a cold if they fell asleep now. A bit shy, Nino wasn't sure if he could just cuddle up to the other so first he held a bit space between them but then Sakurai turned to him and put his arm around Nino's waist, smiling at him and showing that he should move closer. 

When Nino had cuddled up to Sakurai, feeling his heartbeat speeding up again as he became aware of his growing feelings towards that person which seemed to overwhelm him, although he had tried to block them to just enjoy the one-night-stand they shared, Sakurai finally opened his eyes a bit again. He smiled.

"I'm sure that was better than anything Aiba could offer you," he whispered teasingly, his hand brushing slightly over Nino's cheeks before he put it into Nino's neck for pulling the other closer to another kiss – this time passionate again but a bit slower and with more feelings... or was this just Nino's imagination?

He pushed away that thought and just enjoyed their kiss which lasted until both of them were too tired and finally were just cuddling any longer, Nino happily leaning his face against Sakurai's chest so that he could hear the other one's calming heartbeat until he fell asleep.

\- - - - -

The next morning, Nino woke up unusually early regarding that it was a Saturday. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself still wrapped in Sakurai's arms who held him tight and warm, just like he had fallen asleep a few hours ago. 

Nino closed his eyes again, put his arms around the other man's warm body and cuddled even closer, nuzzling his nose at Sakurai's chest to inhale the scent of the other. He felt in the arms of the young lawyer and sighed satisfied. Nino recalled the past night, the happenings in the "Private Hearts," the hot kiss with Sakurai in the hallway in front of the restrooms. He remembered when they arrived at his apartment, Sakurai was even more passionate, and how both of them during their foreplay were so impatient, that they barely managed to reach Nino's bed. What had followed had surpassed all of Nino's dreams he had about having sex with the mysterious young lawyer since the latter had entered the company only a few weeks ago. He had longed to end up in bed with him and now he finally had reached his goal and it had been so much better than he ever imagined. Nino felt incredibly happy about that. His lips curled into a smile. 

Nino felt like he didn't want to leave Sakurai's side ever again. He felt the desire of repeating what happened the last night again and again. Maybe not only on this weekend but as well as in the future. If Sakurai would think the same way? Since they knew each other a bit better Nino really had to admit that he didn't only find the other attractive but that he also really liked him. A lot.

The more Nino thought about that, the less he could insist on his words that getting laid buy that guy just once would be enough for him. As Nino reached up to place a small kiss onto Sakurai's lips, his heart skipped a beat when the other sighed in his sleep and seemed to respond to the kiss unconsciously. Nino stared at him and his body tensed. Did Sakurai wake up now? 

He didn't. Nino breathed out again and tried to calm down his heartbeat. Somehow, he had gotten quite nervous right now. How should he react to Sakurai now on the morning after? 

Nino felt unease about that so he decided to take a shower first, not only to clean his still a bit sticky feeling body but to clear his confused mind as well. The shower did a good job and Nino felt refreshed when he exited the bathroom again. He sneaked back into the bedroom just to find Sakurai still asleep.

"Sho?" he asked quietly but Sakurai didn't react. 

Nino crawled a bit closer to brush Sakurai's hair out of his forehead. The young lawyer slept quietly and relaxed. Nino smiled. He wouldn't disturb him any longer in this case. Maybe he should better make some coffee for the two of them. When Nino stood in the kitchen, finally dressed up in some good-looking jeans and one of his best T-shirts, he even wondered if his guest would be hungry after waking up...

About twenty minutes later, Nino had collected everything he could find in his kitchen that could be served as breakfast. Since he didn't really know what kind of breakfast Sakurai would prefer, Nino had cooked some rice, made Miso-soup, had found a few cereals (which he threw away as he became aware that the date of expiry was already met ages ago) and was now making some egg-omelet and brewing coffee. 

When he put the omelet onto two plates, he suddenly heard some noises coming from the bedroom. The cooking chopsticks and the frying pan still in his hands, he went a few steps into the living room, watching through the opened bedroom door. Sakurai seemed to be awake finally but something seemed to be wrong. Nino could hear the young lawyer talking, murmuring something to himself... or was he on the phone? At least he didn't sound amused at all. 

"I told you, I'm not interested! Why can't you let me live my life as I wish?!" 

So it was the phone, Nino concluded.

The younger one tough didn't get what this was all about. Sakurai seemed to be in some kind of trouble. He finally hung up the phone call aggressively and search for something, probably his clothes. Nino blushed slightly when he saw his guest through the door in all his gorgeous nakedness and remembered past night again. He went back to the kitchen to get rid of his chopsticks and the frying pan and then searched for Sakurai's jeans and shirt which were spread somewhere in between the hallway and the couch in the living room. 

When Nino picked up the pair of jeans, Sakurai came out of the bedroom with messed up hair and only wearing his shorts and a light blanket he seemed to have picked up from Nino's bed. The younger one gulped as he stood up, Sakurai's pants in his hands and his heart started to race again. Why was he so nervous? Sakurai looked at him quite seriously. Somehow, it felt like there wasn't much left from the sweet kindness of last night... was he in such a bad mood?

Nino cleared his throat. "Good morning," he started, trying to smile. "Did you sleep well? Why so shy today?"

Sakurai didn't answer properly, which gave Nino an even stranger feeling than before. There was something going terribly wrong, he feared.

"I... I'm quite busy and will have to leave now. Can you hand me my clothes please?" Sakurai asked as he scratched the back of his head, searching for words. He seemed a bit puzzled.

"Sure," Nino answered shortly and reached out his hands. 

When Sakurai wanted to take his clothes, Nino suddenly grabbed his hand, which caught Sakurai in surprise. The younger man looked directly into the young lawyer's eyes. 

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer?" Nino asked. "I don't have any plans for the weekend."

Sakurai bit his lower lip. "Well... but I do have some," he replied and pulled his hand out of Nino's grip, ignoring the other's painful look that flashed over his face for a second. 

The young lawyer snatched for his clothes and went back into the bedroom quickly for changing. After a few minutes he came back, his hair still a mess but at least he was fully clothed now. Nino was still standing in the middle of the living room, his arms crossed, still nervous. He didn't feel comfortable about this development somehow. Sakurai seemed pissed off. But why? Did Nino do something wrong? Or had it to do something with the phone call earlier? 

"Well... I'm off then, see ya," Sakurai said, when he rushed through the living room into the hallway, searching for his shoes. 

Nino followed him into the hallway but Sakurai was clearly avoiding any further eye-contact. The younger man's heart ached as he saw the young lawyer hurrying like that, as if he was running away from him. He felt the urge of dashing forward, hugging the other and begging him to stay but of course, he didn't do any of this... 

Instead, he took a deep breath and told, "I made breakfast, Sho, won't you stay just a bit longer?" he gulped as he realized that his voiced was a bit shaking.

Sakurai, his hand already on the doorknob stopped and his shoulders indicated a huge sigh. Nino stared at the other, hoping he would change his mind and turn around instead, joining him for breakfast. But Sakurai didn't.

The young lawyer just turned around halfway and said. "You know... what happened yesterday will not happen again. I..."

"You think it was a mistake, right? You just want to leave and to forget everything," was Nino's bitter interruption. 

He had heard something like that too often already and he had told those words too often by himself as well in the past. But to be honest it had never hurt that much before and suddenly Nino wondered how other people had felt when he had said some bullshit like that.

"It's just... I was drunk, we BOTH were drunk," Sakurai continued, sounding desperate but Nino interrupted him immediately again.

"I wasn't THAT drunk, I was fully aware of what we were doing last night," he began, raising his voice and when Sakurai didn't show any reaction, he kept on talking. "Why are you running away now? Did I do something wrong? I thought we get along well... I don't regret what happened last night!"

There was another sigh of Sakurai when the young lawyer turned towards the door again, "No, it's just... we shouldn't have done something like that... we're coworkers after all."

Nino's chin dropped. He couldn't believe it.

"Oh really?! You realize that just now when you fucked me once?" he knew that his reaction was bitchy and he knew that originally his plan had been similar, getting laid by the hot young lawyer once and then going on distance, but right now he just felt used and cast off. And it felt disgusting. "So what?! You seemed quite comfortable yesterday if I may remind you."

"I'm sorry but I really have to go now," Sakurai stated in a low voice and opened the door, "I'm really sorry, Ninomiya..."

And he left.

When the door was closed, Nino was just standing there in the hallway, lost, his chin again dropped to the floor.

"No, no, wait... wait! When did we get back to last-name basis?!" he shouted even if he knew that Sakurai would may be already out of earshot.

Nino was angry. Angry and hurt because his one-night stand had left like that leaving him behind, feeling used like a one-way ticket and because he acted as if everything that had happened between them the least weeks and especially the last night had been just one huge mistake. Why did that hurt so damned much? 

"Are you kidding me?!" Nino shouted desperately against the closed door, aware of not getting an answer, and clenched his fists. Why did he just for a single moment believe that things with Sakurai could be different from the other times? 

"I even made breakfast for you, you... bastard! I never make breakfast for anyone – not even for myself!" with that Nino stormed back into the kitchen, took the plates with omelet as well as the Miso-soup and rice and threw all of it into the kitchen's sink with a loud rumpus that pretty well represented his inner uproar right now.

"Fine, I don't care!" of course he did.

Not sure if he was more angry about Sakurai for behaving like the world's biggest asshole or about himself for being so stupid to believe in something or someone just for a moment, knowing that he would get disappointed anyways, Nino stamped into the living room. He kicked away his jeans from yesterday, cursing as he almost stumbled over it and plunked himself onto the couch. He grabbed the controllers of his TV and his gaming console, started both, turned up the volume quite too loud and started to kick some virtual asses in a Kung Fu tournament to get rid of that heavy feeling lying on his chest.

Nino knew that he couldn't expect from a one-night stand that he would stay over for the weekend and feel comfortable with breakfast and everything. He knew that sometimes it was normal that people would hurry to get away the morning after. He himself did that quite often as well in the past. He knew that he was not allowed to be pissed off because of something like that and he knew that he should not feel such heavy pain when his one-night-stand left. But the problem was, Nino was already too far away from considering Sakurai as just a one-night-stand...

Desperately, Nino threw his gaming controller onto the couch besides him after he lost the third battle in a row, hugged his knees and buried his face. He knew that it was too late now to regret that he had already put too many feelings into this. Aiba and Ohno had been right and he himself should have known better...

\- - - - -

"Nino?! What are you doing here?" the young artist wondered, one of his eyebrows lifted.

The young man under that critical look seemed to study the pattern of the tiled floor in the hallway in front of Ohno's apartment.

"I'm here to apologize," Nino murmured quietly. Ohno couldn't even understand him and so he gave him just a confused look.

"You're here for what?" he asked and leaned a bit forward, frowning.

Nino held up his hand. He was carrying a plastic bag with Chinese imprint. Ohno's face lightened up at this sight. Wasn't that the Logo of his favorite Chinese restaurant nearby? Nino reached the bag to Ohno and looked away again a bit ashamed.

"I'm here to apologize... I'm sorry about what I said to you the last time," he said, this time properly. 

Ohno smiled widely and took the plastic bag. "I wonder what took you so long," he said in a happy voice and then looked inside the bag. "Oh! You even thought about the Krupuk! I love those!"

The young artist went into his apartment, smelling at the food Nino had brought over and leaving the door open for his friend to enter. Seemed like he accepted his apology, Nino thought relieved and with a small smile he entered, put off his shoes, closed the door and followed Ohno into the kitchen. As he passed the bathing room, Nino heart the sound of the shower. 

He pointed at the door and when he reached the kitchen, Nino asked wondering, "You got a guest? I'm sorry, I only brought food for two," he made clear, pointing at the bag in Ohno's hands. 

"That's Jun-kun," Ohno explained while he was searching for bowls and plates to serve the food properly. "Don't worry, he has an appointment later on and will leave soon. If you want to, you can hide from your boss inside my bedroom closet until then," the older one offered, smirking. 

Nino rolled his eyes.

"Hiding from whom?," a familiar voice suddenly asked and Nino jumped in surprise as Matsumoto Jun popped up next to him without a warning, wearing only shorts, a white shirt and a towel to rub his hair dry, "Oh, Ninomiya-san!"

Matsumoto was surprised as well and shot an asking look to Ohno, who was still preparing to serve his and Nino's lunch.

"Ah... I told you about my best friend, right Jun-kun?," he asked and pointed at Nino, "That's him. I heard he works at your firm so I guess I don't have to introduce you to each other, right?"

Nino nodded towards his boss as a greeting but meeting him in private really felt strange...

Matsumoto nodded in return and then smiled broadly, "I see... well... hi then!," he said casually and patted Nino's shoulder, who looked quite shocked about that sudden action. He was still just not used to that happy mood of his boss somehow.

"I'm sorry, there's not enough food for three people, so I can't offer you something," Ohno apologized to Matsumoto and put the dishes onto the table in the dining room, "I didn't know that Nino would show up and he didn't know that I have a guest. If you wanna you could have some Krupuk, I would share with you."

Matsumoto just waived his hand, giving Ohno a big smile. "Don't worry, that's OK. I wanted to leave anyways," the young business man stated and quickly finished drying his hair. 

He left again to get into the bedroom (Nino suggested so that he could change into new clothes) and Ohno in the meantime offered Nino to sit down. He went to the fridge and put out two cans of beer he placed onto the table as well.

"Thanks for the meal," Ohno said smiling towards Nino, as he sat down as well and started to eat. "Your timing is great, I already wondered what I should eat today."

The food really seemed to be delicious. Nino tried his as well and nodded. A few minutes later, Matsumoto returned. Nino stared at him as he bent down next to Ohno to place a kiss onto his cheek. Oh gosh, his boss was kissing one of his best friends just in front of him, could it become any stranger?

"I'm off, Ohno-san. I'll call you this evening," Matsumoto said with a loving smile.

Ohno, his mouth full of his favorite Chinese dish put one hand around Matsumoto's face and pressed the other one's face slightly against his own so that the skin of their cheeks touched.

"I told you, you can call me Satoshi," he said a bit offended in a low voice. 

Nino almost dropped his chopsticks at that scene and shot a disgusted look at those two lovebirds. It COULD be stranger. His best friend was all lovey-dovey with his boss…

"Alright. So take care, Satoshi, I'll miss you," he placed another kiss on the young illustrator's cheek.

Suddenly, Ohno dropped his chopsticks onto the table, put down his bowl of rice and turned around to his lover to pull him closer for a passionate kiss. 

Nino's chin dropped and suddenly his rice with chicken didn't taste as good any longer as a few minutes ago. His eyes almost popped out of his head, his brain screamed for help and his arms and shoulders were covered with goosebumps. Was he really OK with Ohno and Matsumoto together as he had imagined a few hours ago when he had decided to make up with Ohno? But well... 

After a felt eternity, they broke their kiss and Ohno looked at Matsumoto, caring and full of love. Matsumoto suddenly turned his head and pierced Nino with a death glare so that the young man unconsciously backed off a bit, looking at his boss quite shocked.

"Ninomiya-san," he began and then his serious face turned into a smile again, "I'm sure you will treat it confidential that I meet with Ohno-san, right?"

Nino found that smile creepy somehow. "Don't you run around on your own, telling everyone how beautiful life is since you met Ohno? I think you don't need my help to spread the happy news," he finally answered even if he knew that he might have been a bit too cheeky towards his boss right now.

"That might be true," Matsumoto replied. "But no one has to know the details like for example that we both are guys, right? Not that I'm ashamed of my boyfriend but I have to admit that some of my business partners might have a slight problem with it. I just don't want to risk anything." boss Matsumoto got a point. "You understand that, right, Satoshi?"

"Of course. And don't worry, Jun-kun, Nino is gay too," Ohno tried to calm down his lover. Nino looked at his best friend in disbelieve. Did he really just spit out that Nino was gay?! "He doesn't spread information like that carelessly, right, Nino?"

"Oh, I see!" Matsumoto replied. "Well, then I think everything is fine! See you on Monday, Ninomiya-san! Hear you this evening, Satoshi..."

"Yeah... have a nice weekend, Matsumoto-san," Nino replied politely, forcing himself to smile. 

As soon as Matsumoto had left the apartment, Nino death glared at Ohno, grumbling. "Did you really have to tell my boss about my sexuality?" As if Nino would tell the whole world that his boss was interested in men, even if Matsumoto would not have something against Nino in his hand now.

Ohno just ignored Nino's complain and let out a heavy sigh, his face still smiling.

"Isn't he just great?" he asked his friend as he continued eating.

"Please don't ask me something like that. I might accept your choice now and I'm happy you found someone you like but please, he's still my boss...," Nino sighed.

"OK, OK so no dirty details until you got used to the situation a bit more, don't worry," the other one laughed and Nino rolled his eyes. Then, Ohno took a sip of his beer and got serious again. "So... what's troubling you, Nino? Wanna talk?" he finally asked.

"Eh?" Nino stopped eating again. "How do you know that I'm troubled?" the young man asked a bit surprised.

Of course, he was troubled but actually, he still had not decided if he should ask his friend for advice or not. In first place, he had assumed that almost a week of ignoring each other between him and his best friend was just a no-go. Further, after thinking a bit more about the situation Ohno was in, considering his own situation, he came to understand him quite well somehow. Sometimes you just could not choose whom you fall in love with...

"Come on, Nino. I know you for so long already. I can tell if you are troubled or something. Is it still about the topic with Aiba and Jun? We can talk about it once again properly if you want to and if you don't act so childish again," Ohno offered in a grown up way.

Nino shook his head. "No, that's not it..."

"So, what happened then?" his best friend asked deeper.

Nino sat up straight and took a deep breath.

"I... I had sex with Sakurai," he confessed, feeling his cheeks blushing.

Ohno dropped his chopsticks again but this time not on purpose.

"What?! Really?! That's great, congratulations! Wow, so fast? I didn't expect it," he first cheered for Nino. "Tell me more... When? How? Where? Was it as great as you thought it would be? Dirty details?"

The young artist just couldn't hide his excitement but when Nino lowered his look, biting his lips and looking quite desperate, Ohno remembered, that Nino had been troubled and that surely not because everything went well.

"OK, what happened?" Ohno asked again, this time calmer.

TBC


	8. First come, first served

Following Ohno's advice, Nino tried to calm down about the situation. Maybe, Sakurai would come back, call him, or send a mail later on to explain what had happened. Ohno was sure that there must be a better reason than being colleagues for Sakurai to leave Nino's place that rushed and so was Nino. Because Sakurai's reason had just sounded like a bad excuse. A really bad one. 

But in the end, Sakurai didn't show up again or call Nino or even send him a mail and it was already Sunday, almost midnight. 

Nino was sitting on his couch, watching some random variety shows to distract himself from thinking of Sakurai. But of course, that was simply impossible. Sakurai was everywhere in Nino's thoughts. He remembered his smile, his scent, he remembered his voice, he remembered what they did two nights ago so clearly that it hurt when he remembered about Sakurai leaving him behind like some piece of shit the next morning. Nino didn't feel that bad since ages. If he wasn't sure about his feelings for Sakurai so far – he was completely sure about them now. After all, a heart could only get broken if it was in love, right?

The young man couldn't cope with it any longer and so he snatched his phone, which was lying on the table in front of him. He checked about the thousandth time that day if he did miss any calls or if he did receive any mails in the meantime. But of course, he didn't. 

He took a deep breath and finally opened his mailing program, his forehead crinkled in anger. 

If Sakurai wasn't getting in contact with him, maybe he should contact the other guy.

\-----  
To: SakuraiS@yahoo.co.jp  
From: NinoKazu@yahoo.co.jp  
Subject: Idiot!!!

Sho, WTF was that yesterday?! You left and don't even make any effort to apologize or even to explain why?! 

You don't think that I'm believing that shit about "we're co-workers after all, we shouldn't have done something like that," do you? I'm not that stupid and if this really was the case you should have thought about that BEFORE you fuck my ass, you bastard!!!

Wasn't it you who got "jealous" about Aiba just because I was nice to him? Didn't you kiss me first? I thought you like me and not that you only want to fuck me.....  
\-----

Nino sighed as he looked at the draft he has written so far.

He couldn't send out an e-mail like that. That sounded like a desperate housewife's rant after finding out that her husband was cheating on her with another woman...  
Nino deleted the draft.

\-----  
To: SakuraiS@yahoo.co.jp  
From: NinoKazu@yahoo.co.jp  
Subject: I don't get it...

Sho, please tell me what happened yesterday?  
Why did you leave so suddenly and why don't you explain everything properly to me?   
I don't think that being colleagues is your real reason to regret what we did. Did I do something wrong? I thought you like me and I like you as well.

Please come back...  
\-----

"Fuck...," Nino cursed.

THAT he couldn't send out either. THAT sounded like an even more desperate housewife begging her husband not to leave her although he was cheating on her with another woman... 

And so he deleted the second draft as well. 

He stared at his cellphone for a felt eternity, not paying attention to the voices from the TV program, not paying attention on the time going by; only staring at his phone, trying to hypnotize it to ring, to vibrate, anything would be fine. He just wished for Sakurai to explain his behavior. He wished to understand him. He wished to get another chance to talk to him. He wished for a future in which he could kiss him again, sleep with him again, be together with him. But he couldn't ask him. He didn't know how. Maybe he was just too proud but still...

Nino fell asleep a few hours later, his TV still running and his phone clutched between his fingers. 

\- - - - -

When Nino entered the office the next day, looking worn out like just too often lately, his hair a mess as always, his necktie loose around his neck and the dark circles underneath his eyes even darker than usual, he had only two goals. First - catching Aiba at the reception for a talk about having sex with Sakurai at the weekend, getting thrown away like a one-way ticket and having a fucking broken heart right now and second – coffee. The night had just been too short... again.

About his first goal – Aiba wasn't at the reception and Nino felt quite disappointed as he saw his typical morning chat with his friend plus coffee fading away. Even if both of them had been often scolded about this, it had become a quite important ritual for Nino to start a working day. Well, maybe he and his buddy had to rethink about their view about "work" a bit...

Nevertheless, Nino didn't really want to go to his office to face sexdevil Sakurai without further checking with Aiba how he should react to the young lawyer so he just leaned onto the reception table to wait a few minutes, pouting. Maybe, Aiba was brewing coffee right now or organizing some papers in Matsumoto's office. Nino crossed his arms and buried his face within with a deep sigh. 

Suddenly, without hearing anyone coming closer he felt a hand on his shoulder and almost jumped to the ceiling in surprise.

"What the hell!" Nino yelled and turned around just to face the wide grin of his boss. "oh my... Matsumoto-san... I'm sorry... you surprised me."

"Obviously," Matsumoto stated amused but then he examined his employee critically. "You're OK?"

"Well... uhm...," Nino didn't really want to answer.

His boss stared at him; and Nino stared back for a few seconds before he lost the staring contest and looked away.

"You really seem to get too less sleep lately. Starting a Monday like this will make it pretty hard to survive the week," Matsumoto said in a more worried than scolding voice.

"Well, I'll survive it somehow, don't worry," Nino answered murmuring.

"Won't you tell me what's troubling you?"

"Eh?" what was that? Big boss acting like the help-hotline?! "No, thank you very much but I don't want to bother you," and more than that Nino just didn't really want to talk to his boss about personal issues because that was just strange.

"Come on, Ninomiya-san," Matsumoto tilted his head looking quite disappointed. "We're allies now, right? Ohno-san's friends are my friends. My ears are open for your troubles, don't be shy!" 

"Thank you very much but I REALLY don't want to bother you," Nino shook his head and tried to smile, which must have failed terribly.

"Come on! Don't you trust your boss?" said boss made some puppy eyes and Nino felt the urge of smashing his head against the reception table right now just to escape this conversation.

"Tell me! Tell me!" Matsumoto poked Nino's side and Nino cringed. Uhm... no?

"Really, Matsumoto-san, it's nothing!"

"Well, if you say so...," was that a pout?

"Did Aiba-san already start duty today?" if he couldn't open up about his trouble, Nino could at least ask that.

"He's doing some preparations in the conference room since we will have a meeting with some important clients later on. Ah, you want some coffee for sure, don't you? Aiba's coffee really is the best!" suddenly Matsumoto held his hand up towards Nino. "Please take this one."

Nino bit his lower lip. "Eh... but that's..."

"Don't worry, it's freshly brewed and I didn't take a sip yet. So no risk for an indirect kiss or anything," Nino's boss winked with a charming smile on his lips.

Nino frowned. That was not what he had meant but yeah, interesting way of thinking… and kind of disturbing.

"I will get another one later on. You look like you're in a more urgent need of this right now," Matsumoto pressed the cup of coffee into Nino's hands so that the young man wasn't able to refuse.

Then, Matsumoto grabbed Nino's loose necktie, tied it properly without Nino being able to protest, after that adjusted his hair a bit so that Nino just could open his mouth in disbelieve and then patted Nino's shoulder. 

"I know you don't really seem to care about something like this but please... at least if clients are showing up you should check your appearance a bit more," Matsumoto smiled. "As a handsome man you don't have to hide that anyway! So, take care!"

With that, Boss Matsumoto left, loping and humming that particular love song he seemed to love so much lately and so Nino stood there at the reception table, still staring at his boss, not sure if he should get annoyed by that behavior right now or not.

Aiba still didn't come back after another couple of minutes and if he was preparing a meeting, he wouldn't come back so fast either so Nino finally decided to head to his office. He sighed and took a sip of his coffee when he left the reception. Well then – up to the lion's den.

When Nino reached his office, he dropped his bag onto the floor (his coffee almost following if he hadn't paid attention). He stared at Sakurai's table in disbelief - It was empty... his computer was still there but no Sakurai was around and even stranger – all of Sakurai's stuff had disappeared! What was that supposed to mean?!

Suddenly, Nino panicked Sakurai could have quit his job and left without saying a word. He hurriedly placed his coffee onto the table, spilling half of it, almost burning himself with the hot drink before he hurried to the conference hall, bursting into it.

He ran towards Aiba, who was currently arranging some glasses for drinks at the table and grabbed the taller guy's sleeve, looking at him with desperate eyes.

"Whoa... Nino, what's up? Are you alright?" Aiba wondered but immediately stopped his actions.

Nino lowered his look. "Aiba... but did Sakurai come to work today as usual?"

"Huh? Of course he did, why?"

"What?! He's not... he's not in the office and his stuff either," Nino hated himself for sounding that desperate as he did right now but he couldn't help...

"AH!" Aiba realized. "I'm sorry, I should have told you, he moved into his new single office today. Didn't he leave you any note or something?"

"What?!" Nino's eyes widened. "Today?!" wasn't Sakurai supposed to stay at Nino's office for a few more weeks? And no, he didn't take a look for any notes yet.

"Nino, what happened? It's uncommon for you to panic like this... Are you really OK?" the other guy asked worried, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I kept you from working long enough... we can talk about that later on. I'm sorry for bothering you," Nino tried to smile but failed again.

The young man left the conference room and didn't hear the "You're not often saying sorry either, what's wrong with you?" Aiba further asked in a troubled voice.

Nino hurried back into his office, looking at his own table he hadn't paid much attention to so far and there was it – a note, placed on top of his keyboard. Nino snatched it and turned the piece of paper since he held it upside down. 

It was read, "Good Morning, Ninomiya-san. Yamashita-sensei's office got free earlier than expected so I already moved there. Could you please come over ASAP to set up my computer there? I'm busy with the meeting today so please take care of this in the meantime. Thank you in advance. Sakurai"

"Thank you in advance... don't fuck with me, Sho!" Nino hissed and scrunched up the note as he felt angry about Sakurai hinting on Nino not to come at a time they could unintentionally meet as well as using their last names again... weren't they ahead of this already? 

Soon after, Nino went to Sakurai's new office which was located almost at the completely other side of the company's office rooms. He passed the conference room and taking a short look into it through the glass doors told him that Sakurai was indeed busy as part of the discussion round there, showing the clients some kind of presentation about whatever, Nino didn't care, while Aiba was serving drinks to the clients, shooting around his nice and happy smile as always. At least, Aiba seemed less depressed than compared to last week, Nino thought. The young IT-professional went on, trying to ignore that piercing pain in his heart right now after seeing Sakurai working like always and looking gorgeous like always, just as nothing at all had happened between them on the weekend. 

At Sakurai's office, Nino was sitting in his chair after he had set up the young lawyer's computer, as he had been asked. It had not been a big deal since everything he had to do was putting the computer in place, fixing some cables and checking if the computer worked properly. The young IT-professional had opened a few programs to check and everything was fine. 

Maybe, he should just wait for Sakurai's return and talk to him then, Nino thought as he spinned around a few times with Sakurai's chair until he almost felt sick from his action. After he had surpassed another state of anger in which he had to suppress the urge of simply throwing Sakurai's computer out of the window (which he of course didn't do because he didn't want to lose his job) he now reached a level where he just wanted to talk things out. He was still hoping that there was somewhere a happy ending waiting for them... Nino's heartbeat sped up again... Was he brave enough to face Sakurai and talk about everything? He didn't even know how to react towards him after what had happened.

He stopped and his look fell onto Sakurai's belongings. He recognized the red little sharpener that looked like a telephone cell in London, the postcards and other stuff. Everything was almost in the same place as in the other office before. Just one thing was different. 

Nino reached out for the photo frame, which was facing upside down and took a closer look. It was the picture of Sakurai and his parents. The young man frowned. Why did Sakurai put the photograph down? Was it just a mistake? Or... could it have to do something with his family issues he didn't want to talk about the other day? Nino put it back again, the picture facing the table just like before, taking a look around in the office again.

He sighed. So his time sharing a room with Mr. Mysterious had found a quite sudden end. So he wouldn't be able to just look at the young lawyer secretly from time to time... observing his serious look when he was thinking about some troublesome cases. He wouldn't be able to unintentionally touch Sakurai's hands any longer when he handed him over a cup of coffee... he wouldn't be able to listen to Sakurai's voice, calming and full of self-confidence or going up enraged when he discussed with other attorneys on the phone, he wouldn't be able to chat with Sakurai during work any longer, even if it had always been just a few words. Somehow he felt quite disappointed now. 

Well, at least Sakurai didn't quit without saying a word. Why should he anyway? Just to run away from Nino? There was no possibility that Nino was such an important factor of Sakurai's life, right? His reaction on Saturday morning had showed that clearly. But changing rooms right now must have been quite a welcomed opportunity for the other. Thank god for that fucking stupid timing.

Just the moment Nino wanted to close Sakurai's e-mail program again to shut down the computer, a new e-mail arrived in the inbox. Nino didn't intend reading it but somehow he felt curious since the sender didn't look work related... and the preview of the message either... 

\-----  
Monday 11:19  
To: Sakuraisho@matsumotoinc.co.jp  
From: Suzuharaai@yahoo.co.jp  
Subject: Invitation

Hi Sho-chan,

I'm writing to your work e-mail address since I couldn't reach you by phone today. I hope you are not too busy at work. Please take care of your health!

As you may know, my Dad is celebrating his 55th birthday on the upcoming Saturday and you and your family should already have received the invitation to our party at my parent's residence. Please be informed that the time for the start of the celebration had to be moved from 3 pm to 4 pm.

I am looking forward to seeing you there. Have a nice day!

Aiko  
\-----

 

So there was an invitation for a birthday party of a girl's father. Nice. Nothing special. But the girl who sent it somehow sounded like she was quite familiar with Sakurai. At least she was even allowed to call him "Sho-chan," Nino noticed, a disgusting feeling climbing up his stomach. Suddenly, he felt pissed off...

He put the status of the e-mail onto "unread" again and shut down the computer as planned, stood up and left Sakurai's office as fast as he could. 

Back in his office he slammed the door, leaning against it and sank down to the floor, his eyes focused to the sky he could see outside from his office's window. 

"Don't be so stupid...," Nino whispered to himself. 

How low had he sunken for feeling jealous about a stupid girl sending Sakurai information about her Dad's birthday party? This must be a friend of the family, no more no less. He shouldn't feel jealous about something like that. But he did.

\- - - - -

Since Sakurai was still busy with the meeting with the clients, he didn't show up for lunch in the cafeteria that day. Nino was quite thankful for this since he was still too confused from his up and down feelings regarding the man. Even if he had promised Aiba to explain stuff to him later on, he just wasn't in the right mood. Fortunately, his friend was sensitive enough not to further ask Nino about what was troubling him as the young IT-professional refused to answer his question three times in a row. He therefore absentmindedly continued to execute his lunch to the point that it looked like some kind of battlefield and Nino found it too disgusting to finish eating it.

Therefore, Aiba completely failed the next day as he and Nino were sitting at their table eating lunch again and the young receptionist waived towards Sakurai who was just passing them with his own dinner tray and wanted him to accompany as usual.

Nino froze in his movement, not able to rescue the potato, which fell down from his chopsticks just to roll over the table, drop onto the floor and coming to a halt just right in front of Sakurai's feet. Right now Nino wished he could vanish into thin air.

"I'm sorry, Aiba-kun, but I promised another coworker to give him some legal advice today," Sakurai excused himself, smiling towards the young man and ignoring Nino completely.

"What's up with you guys? Sakurai didn't even greet you...," Aiba murmured as the young lawyer was out of earshot and gave Nino a questioning look who just blushed and continued eating without telling further details. Aiba signed and gave up for the time being.

The strange situation between Sakurai and Nino continued for the rest of the week and so Aiba came up with the evil plan of getting Nino drunk on Friday evening to finally squeeze out the details of him. It was as sure as eggs is eggs that there had gone something terribly wrong but Aiba didn't want to jump to a conclusion. So when he and his friend were finally sitting at Koyama's bar in the "Private Hearts," Aiba took advantage of Nino's undeniable depressed mood and ordered one Cuba Libre after another for him, making sure that he himself didn't drink too much to not get drunk as well too quickly.

"It's been almost a week that you refuse to talk about Sakurai. It's enough, Nino, cut it out!" Aiba scolded his friend who just gave him a dozing look. "Tell me what happened! Now!"

The younger one sighed and put down his drink. He brushed his hand through his hair and finally crossed his arms.

"You know what, Aiba-chan?" he finally said, already sounding a bit drunk. He tilted his head and smiled towards his friend, aware that his smile must seem out of place. "Sakurai is just a big asshole..."

Aiba gulped, stared at Nino disbelieving and finally asked. "What did he do? Did he crash your PS3?"

Nino started giggling. 

"Well, I would punish everyone who would do something like that but in this case I would say he did something even more unforgivable...," the giggling stopped and Nino seemed quite serious now. 

He remembered a full week without any contact between him and Sakurai. Even if he had been waiting for Sakurai to call him, mail him or show up in his office to say something, even if it was no apology, he had been waiting for nothing. And of course, he himself had been just too proud to make the first move instead. But why should he? He didn't do anything wrong. At least that was his conclusion. 

"Ne, Aiba-chan," Nino continued, lifting his glass and examining the dark drink within. "I can totally understand you about your broken heart now..."

Aiba pulled his barstool closer to the other. "Oh no... you got dumped?," he asked with a concerning look.

"Not only dumped...," the younger man answered in a bitter voice and with a serious expression. "We had sex once – great sex, really - and the day AFTER I got dumped..."

Aiba's jaw literally dropped to the floor. He didn't know what surprised him more... that Nino had reached his goal already to get laid by the sexy lawyer, that Sakurai had dumped Nino after they had sex once (since he thought that Sakurai was just stupid to dump someone like Nino to be honest) or that Nino was completely upset about that fact now and even admitted to have a broken heart because of that. 

"Nino...," Aiba whispered with teary eyes, leaning forward and hugged his friend. "If you want to cry... don't hold back! I'm with you!"

The young man struggled in Aiba's hug and tried to get rid of his friend. "Who's the one crying here?! Get off." 

Aiba backed off and Nino reached for his drink to kill the rest of it in one go.

"I'm definitely NOT crying because of that bastard! If he thinks having sex with me once and throwing me away after that is fine – FINE!" as Nino put down his empty glass a bit too forcefully, Koyama snatched it and brought it to a save place. "I don't care! I don't need someone like that!"

Nonetheless, Aiba could see tears in Nino's eyes even if he tried to hide them and he knew that Nino was lying. The young man's trembling hand, which had grabbed the edge of Aiba's shirt, was another proof of that. Aiba took Nino's hand in his and squeezed it to show him his concern. Suddenly, Koyama leaned forward as he put Nino's next drink in front of the other.

"By the way, if you're talking about that Sakurai-guy, he's sitting back there and staring at you," he said and gave Nino a knowing look.

"What?!" Nino replied surprised, stiffed and scolded his other friend. "Don't turn around Aiba-chan, that's too obvious!" He enforced the grip of their hands nervously and gave Koyama a questioning look. "Is he... really looking at us?"

Koyama grinned and nodded. "He is. And if you ask me, it seems like he's not so amused seeing both of you that close to each other..."

Maybe there was still a little chance left. Nino didn't know Sakurai's reason to back out of whatever it was they had together so maybe this didn't necessarily mean that he was not interested in Nino any longer. What if there was really another reason than that bad excuse of being coworkers? Then he should be able to make Sakurai jealous, right? It must work like it did the first time when Aiba had surprisingly kissed the other and Sakurai after that couldn't hold back and attacked Nino with a kiss by himself. 

Remembering what that had led to the last time, Nino's heart started racing at high speed. He didn't know if this was a good idea. And he didn't know if this was his brain talking to him or just the already pretty huge amount of alcohol within his blood but somehow this suddenly sounded like not only a good but even a great idea. He turned to Aiba, locking eyes..

 

"Aiba-chan, would you do me a favor?" Nino asked his friend, his eyes shining, his cheeks blushing.

Aiba as well as Koyama gave him a questioning look.

"What can I do, Nino?" his friend finally asked.

"Please, make out with me," the younger one demanded with a serious face.

Aiba started giggling and first, he didn't get what Nino meant. 

"What about this?" he asked and exchanged a look with Koyama who tried hard to not burst into laughter.

"I'm sorry for asking you for something like that but please, I want to see if Sakurai really is jealous! I want to see if he may be still interested in me... I can only find that out with your help, Aiba-chan!" Nino really seemed to think about that as a good idea, Aiba finally understood.

"You're drunk, Nino!" Aiba laughed but the younger one didn't stop begging.

"Pleeeaase~ just tonight! You can do with me whatever you want and then we just forget about it and go on like nothing happened." 

The older one hesitated a bit before he asked Nino further. "You mean... I can kiss you and make out with you for tonight just to make Sakurai jealous? What about your principals of not making out with someone else when you're in love?"

"How do you know about that? I never told you about such principles!" Nino protested, frowning.

"You didn't but it was clear when last time I wanted you to comfort me you couldn't because you had only eyes for Sakurai," Aiba pointed out.

That was true. But right now, Nino didn't care about last week. He stared at Aiba, still serious about his plan.

"Alright," Aiba decided. "But don't complain if I can't hold back..."

Koyama almost burst into laughter as he further listened to the conversation of his two guests and as Nino shook his head, his look still serious like Koyama had seen it never before, he couldn't hold back any longer.

"You guys are so stupid, really!" he laughed and couldn't help but held his stomach. "Well, do as you please but if you regret that afterwards, don't complain to me just because it was my alcohol that turned you into such idiots!"

Aiba completely ignored Koyama's objection and so did Nino. The young receptionist pulled Nino's chair a bit closer and smiled to him, Nino answering with his own smile.

"Thank you, Aiba-chan," he said but Aiba just shook his head.

He lifted his hand to stroke Nino's hair who then leaned his head onto Aiba's shoulder. The older one let his hand slide down from Nino's head over his shoulder and caressing wandered down his back until his hand reached Nino's waist to rest there. In this cuddling position, Nino lifted his head towards Aiba-chan, looking at the other with thankful eyes and it was that moment when Nino looked at him in such a cute way when the young receptionist couldn't hold back any longer. 

Aiba put his hand in the young man's neck and pulled him closer, leaning forward until their lips met. Nino cringed shortly at the touch but he didn't back off. Instead, he closed his eyes and lifted his own hand to grab Aiba's shirt and leaned more into their kiss. Aiba slightly parted his lips and let his tongue slide over Nino's lips, which seemed to tremble a bit. The taller one broke their kiss for a short moment and stroke Nino's thigh to calm him down. 

"Relax, Nino," he whispered and gave him an encouraging smile before he shortly turned his head a bit just to meet Sakurai's eyes who was still sitting there a few tables away, almost ready to jump up, looking like he wanted to kill Aiba right away. "Your strategy seems to work."

When Aiba returned to kiss Nino, the younger one really seemed more relaxed. Not only that, he felt encouraged. His heart was racing. Aiba's kiss was already heating him up, but even more exciting was to know what he did to Sakurai right now. He knew now that Sakurai was still interested, at least as much that he could get jealous about seeing Nino kissing another guy and so it was Nino's turn now. Sakurai would see what he was missing out. But it was his own fault...

The situation seemed to heat up Nino and Aiba the same way and even if both of them knew that there were no more feelings than friendship between them, both of them started to enjoy it. Aiba moved even closer to Nino, holding the smaller one in his arms, touching his body, his face, kissing him again. Nino just let himself get carried away, getting drowned from the music and the semi dark atmosphere in the bar, the taste of Aiba's lips and the caressing touches he received from the other.

"Is he still looking?" Nino asked breathlessly between two kisses.

"Of course he is...," Aiba answered although Nino knew that the other didn't check. 

So he finally turned around a bit secretly to check on his own. And Aiba was right. Sakurai was still sitting at his table, staring at them with a quite pissed off expression. Nino wondered why Sakurai didn't interfere them if he really was jealous. Suddenly, he started to doubt his theory. Of course, an angry staring Sakurai was no guarantee for a jealous Sakurai... maybe he was just pissed off because he thought that Nino was a slut, making out with another guy just one week after he had sex with him. But well... Sakurai was the one who left so he didn't have the right to be angry at Nino.

"Shall we continue this at your place?" Nino offered Aiba as he concentrated onto the other man again, trying to ignore the confusing feelings about Sakurai in his heart.

"Eh?" Aiba stared at him, "Really? You don't have to do that Nino, you know that, right? Isn't Sakurai jealous enough?" Aiba said but Nino just smiled.

Maybe Aiba was right but if not, Nino could at least finish the evening with a nice one-night-stand with one of his best friends, he thought. At least both of them would have enjoyed the evening then and since there were no feelings involved, it wouldn't be a problem.

He stood up and grabbed Aiba's hand, pulling him through the crowd of the bar, passing Sakurai who he gave a short cold stare, which was answered by an unbelieving look and went outside with Aiba, who didn't complain twice. 

\- - - - -

They took a taxi to Aiba's apartment which was pretty close and arriving there, they immediately continued where they had stopped. Nino remembered last week when he did the same with Sakurai. Even if it had been the same, this time it felt quite different. Aiba was definitely a good kisser and Nino enjoyed his caressing and fondly touches... but he wasn't that excited than he was when he had done the same with Sakurai. Aiba was cute, a little bit clumsy maybe but all of his touches were warm and made Nino feel comfortable. It wasn't such a bad thing, making out with one of his best friends, was it? Both of them were broken hearted so why shouldn't they comfort each other? 

When their kisses deepened and their breathing fastened, both of them started to undress each other little by little. They had already reached Aiba's bedroom and the satiny bed sheet under Nino's half-naked body felt just too comfortable. 

Aiba brushed his hand through Nino's hair and in the dim light of his bedside lamp; he looked into Nino's eyes, who seemed to be absentminded. He brushed his lips against Nino's cheeks, lips, his neck, his exposed collarbones and his chest. 

As Aiba after kissing Nino's belly button finally reached his pants and wanted to pull them down, Nino's body suddenly started trembling, followed by a sob. As Aiba looked up again, he saw big tears running down Nino's cheeks, the young man trying to hide them with covering his eyes with his arm.

The older one didn't really know if he should laugh or cry about that sight right now but somehow this was just how he had expected this to end he had to admit. Aiba let go off Nino's pants and put his hands around Nino's shaking hand to comfort him. He slipped up to Nino and laid down beside him, still clinging Nino's hand with one of his and with the other he caressed Nino's cheek to wipe away a few tears.

"I must be terrible in bed if I make you cry like this," Aiba joked and tried to cheer Nino up who just shook his head.

"That's not it, definitely not. Please don't think so," Nino argued, his voice shaking. "I'm sorry, Aiba-chan, it's just... I can't do this... I'm sorry, really," the young man sobbed, still avoiding eye contact to the other even if Aiba had slightly brushed away Nino's arm from his face.

"I know," Aiba sighed. "It's a pity but on the other hand it wouldn't have been you if it had really come this far. You're in love with Sakurai, right?"

Nino nodded and Aiba pulled him into a hug.

"You should tell him."

"I can't," Nino wrapped his arms around Aiba.

"Idiot..."

TBC


	9. One step forward, two steps back

When Nino opened his eyes the next morning, he felt sick. Incredibly sick. He moaned when he tried to sit up just to hold his head with his hands to keep it from spinning. When he tried to get out of bed, he felt like he was on a boat fighting against the troubled sea. In order not to throw up immediately, Nino sat down onto the edge of Aiba's bed again (at least he knew where he was and how he ended up there), pressing his hands against his lips, not sure if he should close his eyes again or if he would just feel more dizzy from that. So he just stared onto the colorful carpet underneath his feet and tried to stop the world from riding a merry-go-round. Damned, how much alcohol did he actually drink yesterday?!

Suddenly, Nino heard a familiar melody from somewhere outside of the bedroom – the ring tone of his own cell phone which has probably fallen out from his jean's pocket in the living room – followed by a cursing "Not again!" from Aiba. So the other was already awake, Nino concluded.

Just a second later, Aiba, wearing an apron over his clothes, opened the bedroom door and entered, his eyes fixated onto Nino's cell phone in his hand.

"I'm sorry for waking you, Nino, but this is already the 7th time your cellphone rings and it won't stop until your voice mail switches on. I'm getting tired of this ring tone, please do something against it!" Aiba finally lifted looked at his guest who was still sitting there, his hands pressed against his mouth and with a face almost as pale as the white wall of the bedroom.

"Oh my gosh, Nino!" the young man just let the cellphone ring, hurried and sat down next to his friend, putting his one hand onto Nino's shoulder and started to rub Nino's back with the other slightly. "Such a bad hangover? Do you need to throw up?" he asked with a worried face.

Nino frowned and mumbled into his hands. "Maybe... I hope not."

"I guess you don't want to have breakfast then? But maybe you feel better with something in your stomach, I made miso soup and rice and omelets...," Aiba started.

Suddenly, Nino jumped up and stormed out of the bedroom. Unbalanced, the young man almost crashed against the door frame before Aiba could hear the bathroom's door burst open and Nino throwing up into the toilet. Aiba grimaced and scratched the back of his head.

"Maybe I shouldn't have talked about food..."

When Nino wiped his lips with the back of his hand before reaching up to flush the toilet, he blinked away a few tears blurring his sight. It wasn't only Aiba's talking about food combined with his weak stomach from his hangover that finally made him throw up, it was also the memory of providing exactly the same food to Sakurai last week just before he got thrown away by that guy. The memory still hurt. Even more, since Nino finally admitted that he was in love with that guy.

"I'm sorry, Nino, I really am! Do you want an aspirin and lay down onto the couch a bit? You can watch TV or something if it doesn't make you feel too sick," Aiba had finally followed his friend and helped him to stand up so that Nino could wash his hands and face at the washing bowl.

"Sounds good," Nino said in a low voice and Aiba rushed away just to come back a minute later with an aspirin Nino gulped down immediately with a glass of water. "Thank you."

After he had borrowed a fresh T-shirt and trousers from Aiba (his own clothes were hanging outside on Aiba's balcony to air a bit), Nino sat down onto the couch in the living room just as the other had offered. He didn't feel like watching TV though and so he just stared at the black screen. Then he noticed that the ringing of his phone had stopped quite some time ago already.

"Aiba-chan... who was calling me all this time?" Nino wondered and when Aiba brought him his phone he quickly scrolled to the list of missed calls. "Oh...," was everything he could say as he saw just the same number listed 7 times – Sakurai's number.

"What... what does he want now?!" Nino asked a bit panicking and Aiba just shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe he wants to talk to you now that we made him jealous yesterday," the older one assumed and Nino wondered if he was right.

The young man sighed deeply, trying to calm down his struggling stomach as well as his heart, which was beating like crazy now. As the cellphone suddenly started ringing again, Nino almost got a heart attack from the surprise. 

It was Sakurai again.

"Oh my gosh, Aiba, what shall I do?!" finally Nino's panic got serious and he looked at his friend with a completely shocked look.

"Pick up the call?" Aiba suggested and pointed towards the ringing phone in Nino's hand.

"WHAT?! But... I don't know what he... what I... what shall I say to him?!" Nino's panic reached its peak.

"Maybe you should let him talk first? At least he's the one who's calling, right?" Aiba laughed and pushed Nino's shoulder slightly. "Just give it a try! By the way, as I already told you, your ring tone is pissing me off, so hurry!"

So after another assuring nod of his friend, Nino finally picked up even if he wasn't able to say anything and so he just stood silent, his lips slightly opened as if he was caught in the middle of talking. After a short silence, Nino finally heard Sakurai's voice reaching his ear, giving him a shiver.

"Nino?... Nino? This is your phone, isn't it?. Why don't you say anything!?" Sakurai sounded…Nino didn't know if it was angry or nervous or desperate or maybe a mixture of all of that but his heart skipped a beat as he heard the other calling him "Nino" again. Why, all of the sudden.

"What...," Nino started and cleared his throat as he noticed his cracking voice. "What is it, Sho?"

"Where are you right now?"

"Why?" Nino wondered.

"Are you with Aiba-kun?" did Sakurai sound a bit bitter or was this just Nino's imagination?

"...Why should I tell you?" Nino asked, trying to keep his voice down as his heart skipped a beat. Was this the right way to react right now? He wasn't sure but before he could think straight, he had already blurt things out.

"I... I have to talk to you. Can you come to the office right now?" Sakurai asked back.

Nino wasn't sure if he should feel happy about those words or not since he still didn't know what all this was about but he couldn't deny his fast heartbeat and just shot a look at Aiba, seeking help, who totally didn't get what was going on. Could it be that Sakurai finally wanted to explain what was going on with him the last weekend? 

"We can talk on the phone...," the young IT-professional finally answered nervously.

"I need you here! Now!" Sakurai interrupted excitedly and Nino blushed. 

"What, why?! You wanna talk? Give me a break! Did you forget how you treated me the last week?" the young man started silently first as he noticed how deep the pain still was that Sakurai had caused to him. This was his chance to be honest. To tell Sakurai his feelings again. Maybe he would at least get an explanation for that guys behavior this way. "First, you fuck me, then you throw me away and ignore me for a whole week! Do you have any idea how much you hurt me with such kind of behavior?! And now I should come up running to you just because you want to talk, are you kidding me?! I don't get you!" Nino blurt into his phone, trying to hold back some small tears forming in the corner of his eyes. "More than that it's Saturday morning and I-"

"Midday...," Sakurai interrupted Nino.

"What?!"

"It's already midday," well THAT was the right time for being a know-it-all...

Nino searched for a clock in Aiba's room as he noticed that he didn't check the time yet. Indeed, it was already past 1 p.m. as he caught the time from a digital clock on top of the television screen. Did he really sleep that long?

"Well OK Mr. Clever, it's midday but it's still Saturday. Normal people don't work on Saturdays and in addition, I have a pretty severe hangover and so – no, I won't go anywhere today," the young man stated angrily. "Tell me what you have to say on the phone right now or tell me on Monday at work."

"It's... it's just...," Sakurai started and Nino, waited patiently, hoping that the other man would tell him something about being sorry for his behavior or something like that. "My computer... my computer doesn't work... I need your help!" Sakurai finished his sentence and Nino's jaw dropped.

"Wait... that... that is what all this was about right now?" he whispered into the cell phone.

"Well, if you won't come in today I have to delay my work but since it's your job, please come to my office on Monday morning as the first action you do on that day, OK? You'll come, right?"

Must have been some quite important work that got interfered from IT-problems right now if Sakurai even had the guts to call a coworker he didn't talk to for a whole week on a Satuday but honestly, Nino didn't give a shit right now. Really, that guy had nerves, he thought and could just open his mouth without further answering to what Sakurai had said. It was just unbelievable. Unbelievable how stupid Nino could have been, thinking that Sakurai wanted to talk about THEM and what had happened between them. Of course, this was just work related... 

Without further answering and still another "Please come to my office on Monday" in his ear, Nino finally hung up angrily and threw his cell phone onto the couch, not caring as it bounced up again and fell down to the floor.

"Nino, what was that?" Aiba asked a bit worried after Nino buried his face in his trembling arms.

"That guy...," Nino started, trying not to shout. "That guy just wanted to know if I could come into the office right now for checking his computer. How could I even just think that he... forget it. I'm just too stupid. Aiba, could I please get another aspirin? My head is almost to burst."

Of course Aiba brought him another aspirin right away and watched Nino gulping it down. "Are you OK?" the young receptionist asked his friend who finally reached out for the television receiver and switched on some program.

"I'll check on Monday," Nino just mumbled and grabbed a blanket from Aiba's couch which he wrapped around himself to hide. 

\- - - - -

After Nino spent the rest of the weekend at Aiba's place, watching some doramas together with his friend, sharing laughter and tears as well, without talking any further about Sakurai or anything other love related, Nino and Aiba entered the office together on Monday on quite an early hour. Nino's heart was racing. This morning he didn't even need coffee to wake up and so he let Aiba start working and immediately went into the direction of where Sakurai's office was located. He stood there then in front of the door, breathing deeply and trying to calm down his heartbeat. On the one hand, he didn't want to see Sakurai and hoped that he was too early for him today so that he could check the computer and then get away unseen again. On the other hand, he longed for seeing that guy again even if he had hurt him badly. 

When he finally entered Sakurai's office, of course, the young lawyer was already sitting there and of course, Nino felt completely nervous at the sight of the man. Even if he had promised to himself to not get weak again, he just couldn't prevent his heart from going crazy, making his brain function almost stop working. The urge of dashing to Sakurai, hugging him, kissing him, talking to him, whatever, filled Nino from top to toes but he bit his lower lip and pulled himself together. He had enough of Sakurai's games.

The room was filled with the scent of fresh coffee. Nino avoided eye contact as he got closer to the young man and just seemed to stare wholes into the wall besides Sakurai. 

"Good morning, Nino," Sakurai said in a friendly voice. 

Nino's heart cringed about hearing his nickname leaving Sakurai's lips as this reminded him onto the night they spent together. He quickly clenched his hands and tried to block out the nervousness and the overflowing feelings for this man, which tightened his chest.

Sakurai then hurriedly stood up from his chair and cursed as he crashed his leg accidentally against his desk. Since when was he so clumsy, Nino wondered.

"Would you like some coffee?" the lawyer asked.

First, Nino hesitated but then, still avoiding eye contact but with a murmured "Thanks" he took the cup of coffee which Sakurai reached out to him and took a sip while Sakurai sat down again.

"So, what's the problem with your computer?" Nino finally asked and thankfully noticed that his voice didn't seem to crack again as so often when he was talking to Sakurai lately. He just had to put on a face as if nothing would concern him. Then he wouldn't appear weak in front of the other.

"It just went black… and I… couldn't use it any longer…," Sakurai suddenly started to stutter as Nino placed his already empty cup onto the lawyer's desk and came closer, his face an almost frozen expression of not caring about anything.

Sakurai jumped up from his chair again and made space for the IT-professional to let him examine his computer. Nino just looked at him a bit disoriented as he was wondering again about Sakurai's behavior. He frowned. At least the young lawyer wasn't that nervous usually, was he? As Nino sat down on Sakurai's chair he tried to start the computer normally but as Sakurai said, it just stood black, no matter how often Nino pushed the power button. He sighed. This could be either a huge problem were nothing could be done any longer or the solution was just too simple. 

Because it was the easier one, Nino chose the second option to check first. He quickly dived under the table for looking after the different cables of the computer and just like he expected – the main cable was just not plugged into the power socket. He signed even deeper and crawled back after plugging it in its right place again. Rising from under the table, he looked at Sakurai with a quite pissed off face.

"Did you… are you really that stupid or did you do that on purpose?" Nino glared at the young lawyer and finally got quite angry. "Really, are you fucking with me, Sho? No pun intended," he raised his voice. "What's wrong with you?! You don't need to bully me or anything, we're not in high school, you know? So give me a break!"

After jumping up, Nino had already reached the door to rush out of the room when Sakurai got hold of his wrist and pulled him back. "Nino, Wait!"

The young IT-professional freed his hand from Sakurai's grip and stared at the other man with a mixture of confusion and anger, not sure if he should better aim this anger towards Sakurai or himself. 

"I thought you didn't want to call me like that because we aren't close or anything, did you already forget?! What's going on with you? Stop confusing me!"

"I… As I said, I just wanted to talk to you!" Sakurai blurted out, his face showing a serious expression.

"Oh, really?" Nino rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "About what? And why now? What about the last time, when I wanted to talk?"

"The situation… was quite different then," the young lawyer tried to find the right words, sounding like he himself wasn't sure if he was able to do so.

"I don't get it. I don't get you," Nino sighed and almost gave up. Maybe he should really just leave. He turned around with a murmuring "Forget it" as he just got hold back by Sakurai again.

This time, Sakurai pulled Nino back at his shoulders, turning him and pressing his back against the closed door. Nino's eyes widened in surprise and he just gaped without being able to say anything.

"Did you sleep with Aiba?" Sakurai asked him directly, giving him a piercing look.

Nino felt his body stiffening from the sudden action of the young lawyer, getting so close to him that he noticed that man's smell again. The smell of coffee, the smell of his aftershave, everything that reminded Nino on that one night they had spent together, hugging each other, naked, hot bodies, sweating a little. He squinted his eyes at this memory, trying to get rid of it and pressed himself closer against the door to make sure that he wouldn't loose balance from his weak knees.

"Tell me, Nino, did you sleep with Aiba?" Sakurai repeated and somehow he sounded a bit desperate.

"Why should I tell you? You don't have any right to…," Nino whispered and again avoided eye contact to the other man.

"I know," Sakurai slightly banged his hands besides Nino's head against the door, causing the smaller one to cringe in surprise again. "I know, but still… "

Nino then lifted his face and looked right into Sakurai's eyes. The other looked back, desperately.

"If you want me to tell you, you have to tell me first. Why are you interested in something like this now? Why did you leave that morning, just leaving me behind like a piece of shit… why didn't you talk to me about that properly afterwards? It wasn't only me who avoided you if I may remind you! You even went back to call me by my last name even if we surely passed this stage already if you ask me," the young man finally formed all his disappointment and questions into words.

"I'm really sorry about that, OK?" Sakurai finally blurt out while Nino just continued staring at him. "I'm sorry that I left you behind, I really behaved like a big asshole."

"Your words," Nino murmured lowering his look for a moment before his eyes went up again to meet Sakurai's.

"I really enjoyed that night with you," the young lawyer finally admitted whispering into Nino's ear, as he came closer for a short time. He then tried to lock eyes with Nino.

"Well, that much I could tell," Nino interrupted again, trying to keep himself from blushing even if he was fully aware that his cheeks and the tips of his ears must have started to glow red already.

"It's just… I was confused," the other man continued. "And I had something left to settle with my parents…"

Nino tried not to laugh and raised one eyebrow, "Do you need to ask your parents if you're allowed to sleep with someone or what?"

Sakurai glared at him, his expression quite stressed. "Could you please just shut up and listen? I'm trying to explain everything right now!"

Nino finally shut up with biting his lip. It was true, Sakurai was trying to explain what was going on, even if it just sounded like the beginning of some stupid excuse for whatever.

"You know," Sakurai kept on, after taking a deep breath. "They have a certain image of me as their son. I fulfilled the family's dream to become a lawyer but lately they tend to interfere in my private life as well. They want me to settle down but I don't want to, at least not the way they want me to. So we often fight lately."

Nino remembered the one time when Sakurai wasn't on good terms with his family after visiting them. He remembered that the morning after he and Sakurai had sex, Sakurai seemed pretty troubled after a phone call and he even remembered the picture showing Sakurai with his parents which had been turned upside down on his desk so that the happy memory didn't get shown. 

"They were annoying me again and totally ruined my mood that day. They wanted to meet immediately to discuss things… so I just came up with that lame excuse to get away from you since I didn't want to get involved even more with you emotionally, even if I really like you, at least not before I could settle things…"

"Wait a moment," Nino lifted one hand and made Sakurai stop talking. He had to clear things before he allowed his heart to go crazy. "Did you just confess to me in between all this confusing shit, but because your parents have some awkward plans with your private life, you couldn't like me as much as you wanted to and therefore you pushed me away?" Nino frowned and wasn't sure if his conclusion even made sense.

"Something like that…," Sakurai nodded slowly. "I know how stupid this must sound and I'm really sorry about that," he finally he apologized. 

"So, how did negotiations turn out then, could you clear things up?" Nino finally asked after a few seconds of silence while he was crossing his arms. 

He wasn't sure how else he should react to this topic right now and he didn't want to dug deeper into Sakurai's family issues. Even if he just could find himself wondering about them, everyone had his own special issues in life, right? It wasn't like things with his own family were always easy. At least he should give Sakurai the chance to explain in more details.

"Uhm… not that well to be honest," the lawyer answered, his hand bashfully brushing through his hair before he continued. "I was really depressed and almost gave up... I didn't know how to face you so I just kept distance. I thought maybe it was better for both of us not to get involved any deeper. I tried to forget you and to make you hate me."

"Well, you were on the best way to succeed with that…," the young IT-professional grumbled as he remembered the feeling of getting neglected by the one person he finally had fallen in love with after not being able to develop such feelings for years.

"But then when I saw you with Aiba again… and I saw how familiar you were acting with each other and when I saw you kissing…," Sakurai continued, his look serious and a little in despair, "I - I just realized that I didn't like that at all, OK?"

Nino just stared at the young lawyer, not knowing how to react. Then, Sakurai, who's cheeks had already turned red, suddenly leaned forward a bit, put his hand into Nino's neck and just before the younger one could realize what happened, Sakurai was pressing his lips against Nino's, a bit harsh, a bit clumsy, pulling him into a kiss. Nino could even feel Sakurai's lips trembling from excitement a little bit. As the young lawyer drew back again, Nino just continued staring at the other guy in disbelief, still feeling the warmth of Sakurai's kiss. He was too busy with calming down his heartbeat again so that he couldn't say anything right now. He just stared at Sakurai with questioning eyes.

"I'm jealous, damn. I don't want you to sleep or to make out with or to even kiss other guys than me, OK?!" Sakurai finally spit out, darting a serious look at Nino.

"Because… because you like me?" Nino asked whispering, finally finding some words, his eyes getting bigger and bigger as he allowed hope growing inside his chest.

"Because I like you!" Sakurai confessed aloud, causing Nino to blush even more.

"But… what about that strange stuff with your parents? They seem really important to you, and you seem to respect their plans, but now… So then, why wouldn't you have reacted that way in first place?" Nino wanted to make sure; his cheeks still blushed deeply red. He still was so confused about all this.

"You know what? I'm grown up already, I think it's time for me to decide something like this on my own," Sakurai stated in a serious tone, finally making Nino's lips curl into a smirk.

"Well spoken, mama-boy," the young IT-professional teased the other guy and Sakurai blushed as well. "So… now things are settled somehow? What are you planning to do now? You made me come here with the lame excuse of a crashed down computer and you even took the effort to pull out the cable just to make it look real after all," the young man commented sarcastically, grinning widely. His heart was pounding like crazy and he couldn't believe that Sakurai just confessed to him – not that Nino would complain about that straightforwardness.

"I plan to beg you for forgiveness and to ask you to stop dating Aiba and to go out with me instead!" the young lawyer answered in a serious voice, pure honesty speaking through his eyes. He finally grabbed one of Nino's hand and squeezed it slightly.

Nino pulled on a serious look again and darted it towards Sakurai. "You don't mind that I slept with Aiba? You don't think that I'm a slut sleeping with another guy just one week after we did the same?" he asked, even if this was just some kind of testing the earnestness of the other since the thing about Aiba seemed to turn out as a real misunderstanding.

Sakurai took in a deep breath, enforce the grip onto Nino's hand and after that he stated, "I definitely don't like the imagination of you sleeping with another guy but it was my fault. I pushed you away and you weren't bound to me in any way so… it's not my right to forbid a single man to do something like that, right?" at least he was somehow realistic. "But now… I'd like to hear your answer. Don you like me as well?" Sakurai continued, looking quite embarrassed. "I thought so, so please, choose me! I swear, I will never make you feel neglected or anything again! Please, forgive me."

"You know what?" Nino asked and shyly biting his lower lip his expression finally softened. "I didn't do it."

Sakurai stared at him. "Didn't do what?" he asked wondering.

"I didn't sleep with Aiba," Nino admitted.

"You didn't? But weren't you leaving together… and the making out and everything?" the young lawyer asked completely confused.

"To my defense, I was drunk. And heartbroken. I was depressed... because of you, by the way... To be honest, I even intended to get comforted," Nino began. " I wanted to make you jealous but in the end… I couldn't do it with him."

"W-Why not?" Sakurai asked disbelieving.

Nino again bit his lips before he lifted his free hand and ruffled through his own hair to distract himself from the embarrassment of the situation. At least this was the first time in ages that he admitted his own honest feelings aloud like this. "You idiot, of course I couldn't do it because I like you too! And therefore you're the only one I want to sleep with…," he finally got out, shyly hiding half of his face with his hand.

"Really?" Sakurai asked and watched Nino closely who just nodded. "So does this mean that you will forgive me?" 

Another nod and then Sakurai couldn't hold back any longer. He pulled Nino into a tight hug with so much enthusiasm that Nino lost balance, both of them almost fell and so they stumbled a few steps backwards until Sakurai got caught by his desk. Nino ended up hanging just helplessly in Sakurai's hug, his arms wrapped around the other man's body, his ear pressed against his chest so that he could hear the fast heartbeat of Sakurai… or was it his own? He wasn't sure. All of the suddenly overflowing feelings just confused him, heated him up, and made his heart go crazy and his mind go blank. 

In a daze, Nino lifted his face and looked up to Sakurai who was still holding him tightly, pressing him close to his body. Nino almost drowned in Sakurai's deep dark eyes and when he stretched a bit to get closer to the other, reaching one hand to touch Sakurai's face, their lips finally met halfway to melt together in an unbelievably soft kiss. Nino closed his eyes as he felt Sakurai's lips brushing against his own, making them tickle a bit from the light touch. Their hug became a bit loose after that, Nino – breaking Sakurai's kiss for a moment - could stand up properly, and both of them shifted into a more comfortable position. 

Sakurai leaned forward again, bringing one of his hands from Nino's back up to his head, burying his slim fingers in Nino's disheveled black hair, pressing the young man closer to his body again, kissing him again. Nino let his hands fall down to Sakurai's chest, taking a grip of the young lawyer's jacket before letting his fingers slide underneath to bury in the soft fabric of Sakurai's shirt. Nino parted his lips when Sakurai brushed his tongue slightly over Nino's upper lip and moaned when their kiss deepened. Sakurai's hand wandered from the back of Nino's head a bit forward, tickling his earlobe a bit when he touched it slightly, running his fingers down Nino's neck which caused the younger one to shiver in pleasure before Sakurai started to expose Nino's collarbones by unbuttoning his shirt. The lawyer's fingers trailed down Nino's chest, leaving a ticklish feeling behind before they focused onto the waistband of Nino's trousers.

"What are you… I mean… here?!" Nino hissed between two kisses, his cheeks blushed and drawing back a little, wondering about Sakurai's plans.

"I'm sorry, I just can't hold back any longer," Sakurai said in a hoarse voice, looking at Nino with glassy eyes full of desire. He leaned his forehead against Nino's and closed his eyes, his hot breath ghosting over Nino's face before they kissed another time. 

"Unbelievable," Nino chuckled between two more kisses. "I always thought that I would be the type doing something like that but that you are initiating this now, is shocking! You're just the strict lawyer following all those stupid rules at work, not even willing to talk during work at first and now… do you remember the first few days you started working here? I thought you would never ever talk to me, I was even surprised that you greeted me in the morning."

"Oh, shut up and don't ruin the mood now, Nino, sometimes people change their opinion, you know?" Sakurai said with a grin and pressed his lips onto Nino's again. And again. And again…

Nino just had started to peal Sakurai out of his jacket while they were kissing breathlessly as suddenly they heard a knocking at the office door. 

"Sakurai-san? I want to ask you for your opinion about something," it was Boss Matsumoto's voice…

Sakurai's face went pale on an instant and he and Nino froze in shock as the door finally swung open.

"I'm wondering which one of those pictures I should hang up at the reception area," their boss continued, not really paying attention towards what was happening in Sakurai's office. He seemed quite busy with carrying two large canvas he obviously wanted to show the lawyer. "This one – a really beautiful portrait of a really beautiful man – in pop-art style," he lifted one of the pictures – a portrait of himself - and showed it to Sakurai. "Or this o… oh… OH!" and then his eyes almost plopped out of his head.

Due to the shock of the sudden disturbance, Sakurai and Nino hadn't been able separate from each other in time - at least not in a way that they wouldn't still look overly suspicious and their half-dressed clothes spoke for themselves. Matsumoto got the view of two deeply embarrassed looking guys with deep red faces, the one with a half-naked upper body, half opened trousers as well as hair that looked even more messy than usual and the other with an almost undressed jacket of his lawyer suit.

Matsumoto pointed at Sakurai with the picture he carried under his right arm and at Nino with the picture he carried under his left arm, his lips still formed to a big "O". 

"Sakurai-san, Ninomiya-san, I had no idea,… I didn't want to disturb you, I'm sorry," he then couldn't provide a wide grin any longer, showing his beautiful white teeth. "I really appreciate what you're up to… but really, can you postpone this until work is finished? Thank you. And now I will ask both of you – which picture would be better?" 

After taking a serious look at the pictures, considering the motive (both were portraits of no other than big Boss Matsumoto himself, one as a flashy pop-art and the other as a dreamy aquarelle) Nino and Sakurai glanced at each other in disbelieve and then looked at Matsumoto again, whose eyes where shining from excitement. 

"Are you serious?! Why would you hang a picture of yourself there?" Nino asked, arching an eyebrow wondering, while Sakurai quickly jumped in front of him to button up his shirt when Nino exposed one of his nipples as he lifted his arm to point at the pictures. 

Matsumoto laughed – either because of the sight of those two men or because of Nino's comment - and then pulled of a completely serious face again.

"Why shouldn't I do that? At least it's my company. I'm the boss. A handsome boss. Don't you think so too? So why shouldn't I show off a little? Self-confidence is important in this business," Matsumoto imitated the posture from the picture and showed his two employees his profile, his eyes watching them with something that must be a sexy look or something.

Nino shivered as he started to imagine his boss crawling naked over some silky bedsheets and squinted his eyes. No thank you, THIS should definitely be saved for someone else. Seeking for help he just looked at Sakurai, who had a hard time biting his lips for not bursting into laughter, and just shrugged his shoulders. 

"Those are drawings from Ohno, right?" Nino cleared his throat and turned towards his boss again who still was overly excited.

"They are, they are! I'm not surprised that you as his friend could tell. Both of them are gorgeous, aren't they? He's so talented! But I can't decide which style is more fitting," again he looked from the pop-art Matsumoto-portrait to the aquarelle-version thereof, the first looking like an explosion of colors, the other providing a more calming aura due to the light and blurred painting. 

"Hm...," after exchanging another look, Nino and Sakurai finally answered at once and pointed towards the pop-art-Matsumoto. "Take this one!"

"Yeah? All right! Then it's decided!" their boss smiled satisfied and then asked Nino to come helping him putting the picture up at its new place.

Nino quickly brushed through his still messy hair to get it a bit straighter and cleared his throat as he followed his boss out of the room. Just before he closed the door, he turned around one last time and looked at Sakurai. 

"I'm sorry but I'm already busy this evening with meeting Ohno but…," another blush reddened Nino's cheeks. "If you want to continue what we started, we could meet afterwards. Just if you want to…," Nino started to stutter, still a bit unsure if that what have happened had been true.

"Of course I want to," Sakurai smirked.

"Well, well, I'm sure, you two lovebirds will find some time for your lovey-dovey-stuff but please – back to work now!" Matsumoto complained from outside, grabbing a protesting Nino at the collar from behind to drag him out of Sakurai's office. 

"See you at lunch break, Sho!" Nino shouted in a happy voice as the door fell shut.

Sakurai sat down at his desk again, and he couldn't help but chuckle relieved, an overly happy smile dancing on his lips. 

\-----

Ohno couldn't wipe his broad grin from his face when he met Nino that evening for eating Sushi and listened to Nino's story. Even if the part with ending up dumping Aiba as well as throwing up in Aiba's apartment the next day was not funny, the rest of the story quite of amused Ohno. However, things between Sakurai and Nino seemed settled and when Nino got an e-mail of Sakurai during drinking the second beer this evening, he was all smiles as well. 

\-----  
To: NinoKazu@yahoo.co.jp  
From: SakuraiS@yahoo.co.jp  
Subject: Again, I'm sorry

Nino, I'm really sorry for all the trouble I've caused. Sometimes I can be a little complicated. Please be sure that what I told you today are my deepest and sincere feelings. I can't wait until we meet for a date sometime. Have a nice evening and sleep well (and please go to bed a bit earlier than usual! You're too handsome to end up as a zombie ^.~).  
Sho  
\-----

 

"Who would have thought that he can be such a cutie," Nino smiled and ran his hand through his hair.

"And who would have thought that you can be such a cutie, head over heels in love… that's just too cute, really!" Ohno grinned and stole one of Nino's salmon nigiri from his plate just to earn a smack onto his head.

\- - - - -

Unfortunately, Sakurai as well as Ninomiya had quite stressful working days this week and since they didn't want to get caught by someone in Sakurai's office again (and the toilets turned out just too uncomfortable and unromantic to make out), they only could meet at lunch break. Aiba was overly happy when he found out that his friend and the lawyer had made up again, at least. The couple somehow managed to go for a coffee after work on Wednesday just before Sakurai had to leave again for an important telephone conference. Sometimes, they exchanged e-mails, in private as well as during work - which was something, Nino still loved to tease Sakurai with. When they met accidentally in the company's corridors, their glances to each other ranged from a shy "Good Morning" to an unspoken "I wish I could undress you right here and right now". 

They had finally fixed a date for going for dinner on Friday evening – just like a typical romantic dinner. Sakurai had planned to pick Nino up from his office to guide him into a restaurant he had chosen, after that they planned to go for one or two drinks and then… they would see where and how the evening would end. Nino was already nervous like a high school girl before her first real date when he searched for a nice necktie this morning. Even if he couldn't tie it properly, he wanted to look good for his boyfriend (he still was embarrassed to call Sakurai like that but in fact Sakurai was exactly that). So he put an extra necktie as well as another a bit more interesting shirt into his bag so that he could change before they would leave in the evening. 

Everything seemed to work according to plan, until Nino – after switching clothes – met up with Aiba at the reception for their usual afternoon coffee klatsch. Since a few days, Boss Matsumoto had developed the habit to join in as well and unlike than in the beginning, Aiba and Nino had finally gotten used to that. The three men were standing at the reception, enjoying Aiba's delicious coffee and talking about the upcoming date of Nino and Sho, even if Nino wasn't the one who wanted to talk about it at all but his boss was just too fired up somehow. Aiba's excitement didn't help much either since the young receptionist totally cheered for the fresh couple as well.

"Isn't that just fabulous?" Matsumoto started with a dreamy look on his face, "I'm deeply touched that such kind of a love story happens in my company. The young IT-professional and the lawyer..."

Aiba giggled as he saw Nino blushing deeply red before he tried to change the topic, "Matsumoto-san, please, could we talk about something else? That's quite too embarrassing," Nino complained but his boss just grinned towards him.

"You're so cute, Ninomiya," he said, tousling Nino's hair the other tried to fix after that with an annoyed grumbling. "No wonder that you managed to make even that cold lawyer fall for you. So what are your plans after dinner? Could it be that you plan to finally finish what you started on Monday before I disturbed you?"

Matsumoto's grinned like a Cheshire cat and Nino had a hard time to pull himself together not to smack his boss. 

"Wouldn't you prefer to talk about...," Nino took a look around and as he could not come up with something else, he just pointed towards the new picture Matsumoto and he had hung above the reception.

"Ah, yeah. Isn't it unbelievable how well the sharp of my face got caught? My lips… my eyes…," Matsumoto pondered while looking at the painting. He was so easy to distract, Nino thought...

"I wonder if this is how the artist really sees him. The picture is all flashy, don't you think so too?" the young IT-professional asked Aiba as he couldn't prevent to troll his boss a little bit but Matsumoto didn't react towards his employee's comment and just kept on adoring the painting.

"Didn't you say this version is much more fitting?" Boss Matsumoto finally asked.

"Fits your personality," Nino nodded agreeing with a smirk.

"Flashy?" Matsumoto wondered.

Aiba just giggled and Nino took the last sip of his coffee. After that, he started to fondle at his necktie he had picked for his dinner with Sakurai this evening. After doing the tie knot wrong for the third time in a row and letting out a frustrated sigh, Matsumoto turned around to Nino and smiled towards him. 

"Do you want your flashy boss to help you?" he offered friendly.

Nino finally gave up and just nodded, murmuring some words of thanks. 

"That's so cute, he wants to look nice for his date," Matsumoto grinned and Aiba giggled even more.

"Stop calling me cute!" Nino grumbled and picked the tied necktie in place after his boss let go off.

Then suddenly the doorbell rang and Nino as well as Aiba and Boss Matsumoto turned their heads towards the door. Matsumoto frowned and looked at Aiba, making a wondering gesture.

"Do we expect any clients today?" he asked the receptionist who was already browsing through his digital calendar at the monitor of his computer but found him with a frown as well.

Aiba shook his head. "There's nothing listed for today… I wonder who this might be."

The young receptionist pressed the buzzer and the entrance door swung open. A young woman with long brown curly hair, decent but nice make-up and dressed in a beautiful skirt and blazer, holding an expensive looking designer purse, entered and bowed at the three men, gazing at the stranger. Matsumoto went a step forward and bowed as well to greet the visitor before he asked her for her name and concern.

The young woman seemed to turn a bit shy and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm really sorry for showing up here without having an appointment," the young woman started. "My name is Suzuhara Aiko. I'm searching for Sakurai Sho. He must work here, right?"

Those words finally made Nino curious about the visitor as well. What might this woman want from Sakurai? Was she a client of him as a lawyer? But wait… wasn't her name ringing a bell in the back of Nino's head? Could she be the person who sent Sakurai an e-mail regarding her father's birthday party?

"Well, that's right, he's our in-house lawyer. He must be busy right now. Are you some kind of client of him?" Matsumoto wondered. 

"No," the woman answered and now everyone was all ears at the latest. "I'm his fiancée…"

"Excuse me?!" Nino blurted out, the young woman looking at him with a surprised look.

Nino felt like that woman just had pulled the rug out from under him as he let sink in the new information. Sakurai's fiancé… How the hell could that person be Sakurai's fiancé?! Aiba just stood there, still gasping for air, his look wandering from the female stranger to Nino who has turned pale and back to the woman again. Matsumoto just frowned, worrying. Something seemed completely wrong here, he could tell.

"Is there a problem?" the young woman asked a bit worried. "If it's bad timing and you can't guide me to him, I can wait here," she offered.

"That's impossible…," Aiba finally whispered and seemed to search for words he could say.

Suddenly, Nino took a step closer to the young female, glancing at her with a serious look. She blinked with her long eyelashes, which rounded her beautiful eye-make-up and seemed to wait that Nino would say something.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he will have a few minutes for you. Please follow me, I'll guide you to his office," Nino finally said, Matsumoto and Aiba behind him gaping at him.

"Nino, are you sure that you…," Aiba started but still was at a loss of words.

"It's OK, Aiba, I'll just guide her to Sakurai and come back afterwards."

Nino started walking, the young woman following him, and guided her through the corridors of the office. He didn't say a further word and so both just silently walked until they have reached a certain office, the name tag besides the door reading Sakurai's name and position in the company. Nino's knees felt weak like pudding, his heart was pounding about a felt hundred times faster than usual, his hands were slightly shivering and his face had already frozen to an apathetic expression. He lifted his hand, took a deep breath and knocked at Sakurai's door.

"Come in," Sakurai replied and Nino opened the door, showing the young woman to enter first.

"Aiko…," Sakurai gasped and stared at the young woman in surprise.

"Sho-chan," she answered and took a few steps closer to Sakurai's desk.

"Your fiancé is here, Sho," Nino said calmly, thankful that this time his voice seemed not to abandon him. Nevertheless, he couldn't completely hide his disappointment and so he just added a silent. "Is this, how you settle things?"

Nino turned around and slammed the door as hard as he could. He immediately started running through the corridors, hearing Sakurai shouting his name after him but not paying attention to it. He just ran, slowing down his walk a bit only when he finally reached the reception again where Aiba and Boss Matsumoto were still waiting for his return. His eyes fixed to his shoes, he quickly bowed in front of Matsumoto.

"Matsumoto-san, I'm sorry but please let me take the rest of the day off. If there is anything urgent, please call me and I'll come in on the weekend to fix it," Nino murmured, his eyes hiding behind his bangs, not even recognizing Matsumoto's agreeing nod.

He turned around and left the company, not paying attention to Aiba's worried words who tried to hold him back. He took the elevator down to the basement, dashed out of the building and jumped into the next taxi he could find, just to get away from here. This time, he had enough. Definitely.

TBC


	10. Just shut up and kiss me!

\-----  
Friday, 15:32  
To: NinoKazu@yahoo.co.jp  
From: SakuraiS@yahoo.co.jp  
Subject: Please...

Nino, please pick up your phone, We need to talk!  
Sho  
\-----

\-----  
Friday, 15:54  
To: NinoKazu@yahoo.co.jp  
From: SakuraiS@yahoo.co.jp  
Subject: Please!

Nino, please! Really, this is important! You got it all wrong, really! I want to explain everything to you, let's meet or at least call me back!  
Sho  
\-----

\-----  
Friday, 16:34  
To: NinoKazu@yahoo.co.jp  
From: SakuraiS@yahoo.co.jp  
Subject: Please!!!

I know, I'm the biggest idiot on earth to hurt you... again... but this is really a misunderstanding! Please, at least give me a chance to clear this! I need to see you! You can beat me up after that if it makes you feel better!  
Sho  
\-----

"Get lost, idiot!"

Nino didn't believe Sakurai. He couldn't. He felt too angry and too hurt right now and his disappointment and anger maybe made him blind even more but he didn't believe Sakurai right now. Not a single word. He didn't want to talk to Sakurai, not in person and not via phone or e-mail either. Therefore, he switched off his phone after the sixth call of Sakurai he didn't want to pick up as well as a bunch of pleading e-mails.

Ohno wasn't at home. Nino waited for almost an hour, sitting in the corridor waiting for his best friend to return maybe within that time but he didn't show up. He couldn't reach him via phone either. Maybe he was out buying new painting material or he was visiting an art exhibition. He always took almost the whole day for something like that and he used to turn his cellphone on mute then because he didn't want to get disturbed. In the end, Nino got tired of waiting, and left. 

Of course, it had to start raining now. What else? Nino's life lately was like some shitty romantic movie, of course, it had to start raining on a day and the young man got even angrier because of that. Nino was already soaked wet when the next taxi stopped at the street and picked him up.

He couldn't go to Aiba's place, since his friend was still working for at least the next three or four hours. He didn't want to go home either since Sakurai would maybe show up there with some lame excuses, trying to make him listen to him about how sorry he was that he had forgotten to fucking tell him about his fiancé. Nino didn't want to hear anything about that. He was fed up to the back teeth from all that shit Sakurai had told him, all the excuses, the nice words… It had been all lies and Nino didn't want to get served another lie so he just wanted to shut his ears from that by running away. Sakurai had to blame himself for that. Nino didn't care. Or at least, he tried not to do so. He just wanted to get somewhere he could get comforted a little bit… where someone would tell him that he wasn't the biggest idiot on earth for falling in love with someone, even if it looked exactly like that right now.

There was only one place left Nino could think about. He knew that he might disturb at a time like this but his friend had often offered to lend him an ear if he had some kind of trouble. At least Nino hoped that this was not only valid during opening hours while he paid for the majority of his drinks and since Ohno and Aiba weren't available, Nino maybe could dare to bother his friend... Anyways, he was already standing in front of his friend's house so he would at least try it.

\- - - - -

"Whoever this is, I hope you have a really good reason to disturb me! I'm in the middle of writing, I have to meet my deadline! And by the way, I'm NOT going to buy that stupid newspaper subscription, I already have two that's more than enough and I already told this to about five other guys before!" Shige's annoyed and slightly panicked sounding voice blared through the speakers of the inter-phone system as Nino leaned on the bell, standing outside in the heavy rain.

"Uhm… Is Kei-chan at home? It's me, Nino," the young man murmured and this seemed to be enough to calm Shige down.

"Nino?! Oh, I'm sorry, wait a sec, I'll open the door..."

Then the door made a buzzing noise and let Nino push it open from the outside. As he entered the empty "Private Hearts", which was still hours before its opening, the tables cleaned, the chairs put onto them and the counter of the bar of course empty as well, Shige came rushing downstairs behind the counter from the apartment on the first floor to get a look at his friend.

"What's up, Nino? You don't visit us at this time usually," the young writer adjusted his glasses and shot a worried look towards Nino who just stared at him from under his soaked bangs. "Gosh, you're soaking wet! And wait, is this the rain or did you cry?" Shige asked wondering.

"Of course not! Who do you think I am?!" Nino wiped his red shot eyes.

Shige put his arm around Nino's shoulder and guided him upstairs to the apartment he shared with the owner of the bar.

"Kei-chan he went out shopping, do you want to wait? He should be back soon. Can I help you somehow? Want to take a shower so that you don't catch a cold? Don't you have to work around this time? What happened? You really look horrible… you want a cup of tea? Or coffee?" somehow Shige seemed a little over-strained by the sudden appearance of Nino as well as his miserable look and just asked question after question without waiting for a reply. 

He wasn't used to deal with visitors since Koyama usually was the one who took care of them and Shige just shut himself up in the apartment to write his novels. But of course he wanted to be of help if it was possible.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me, can I just stay here for a while, please?"

"Sure," Shige answered and decided that it would be best to get his guest something to drink. 

He went the few steps from the living room's couch to the kitchen and poured some hot tea for Nino and himself. Nino thankfully took the cup of tea into his hands and let the hot steam warm up his face before he took a sip. Then they heard some noises from downstairs and it didn't take long until Koyama showed his head coming upstairs as he was carrying some bags filled with food and whatever he had to buy for his and Shige's daily life. 

"Shige, I'm back! I'm sorry, they didn't have any of your favorite vanilla pudding so I decided that I'll make you some homemade pudding on my own, are you OK with that, Honey?"

Shige blushed a bit when Koyama called him "Honey". He didn't seem to have noticed that he and Shige had a guest. Only when he saw another pair of shoes in the entrance area of their apartment, he realized.

"Eh? Shige, who-," as Koyama looked up, Nino lifted his hand, waiving slightly while hiding behind his teacup. "Oh, Nino?"

Shige jumped up and rushed to his boyfriend to quickly explain the situation (at least as much as he understood about it, which wasn't much) in a low voice. Koyama nodded and then stepped in front of the couch, bending down to tousle Nino's wet hair.

"Would you mind to stand up and go get a shower, Nino? You're completely soaking my good couch," the young barkeeper joked and smiled at Nino. 

First thing to do was to get Nino out of his wet clothes or he would get sick. Next step would be, being a good friend and listening to what was troubling the other. Even if he didn't tell so far, it was obvious that he was seeking for help.

Koyama's joke managed to get Nino smiling a little bit before he finished his cup of tea and then stood up to do what he was told. "You have to lend me something to dress, Kei-chan, please," Nino stated.

"Go on, I'll put something for you in front of the shower cabin in a second."

"Thanks."

\- - - - -

About half an hour later Nino stepped out of the bathroom, warmed up again, his hair half dried with a towel. A pair of comfortable trousers and a colorful knitted sweater from Koyama – both a bit too large so that Nino looked like a little boy, wearing his big brother's clothes but well, at least they were dry and warm, replaced his wet suit.

"I mad some hot chocolate and vanilla pudding. Come on, have some!" Koyama smiled and invited Nino to sit down next to him.

Shige was already enjoying his second portion of pudding, as it seemed. Nino didn't feel like eating at all right now so he declined this offer for the time being but he took the offer to sit down. Suddenly, Koyama's cellphone rang and the young man fished it out of his pocket to check who wanted to reach him.

"Oh, it's Aiba-kun," he stated and showed the display to Nino who just stared back at Koyama.

The young barkeeper then picked up the call and immediately held his cellphone a little further away from his ear in order not to get deaf from the shrill and panicking voice of Aiba

"Kei-chan, Nino disappeared! Seriously, we cannot find him anywhere and we can't reach him by phone, is it possible that he went to your place already?"

Koyama looked at Nino with a questioning look who just shook his head and lifted his hands to cross them and to make him understand that he definitely didn't want him to tell Aiba about his whereabouts.

"Erhm… I don't know where he is, I'm sorry. What happened?" Koyama answered and this time, Aiba didn't scream that loud into his phone so that Nino didn't hear what he was saying any longer. Koyama just nodded and hummed understanding, promised Aiba that he would contact him if Nino showed up at the bar and then hung up.

Nino sighed in relief. He was sure that Aiba was helping Sakurai to search for him and even if his friend maybe also worried about him, he didn't want to let them know where he was. Not yet…

"You sure about this?" Koyama finally asked just to earn a nod from his friend. "Won't you tell me what happened?"

"To be honest, I don't really feel like talking right now. I'm sorry...," Nino answered, wrapping his arms around his knees and sinking deeper into the soft fabric of Koyama's couch. "Sakurai is an idiot, that's all."

"Are you sure-"

"I'm pretty sure!" Nino stated with an angry look on his face, even if his voice was trembling a bit.

Koyama sighed and exchanged a look with Shige who just shrugged his shoulder. Maybe it wasn't the right timing now to talk to Nino about it. He still seemed a bit too excited right now.

\- - - - -

Nino pushed back the long sleeves of Koyama's quite too large sweater and grumping took the Wii-controller, the other offered to him. Of course, he wouldn't turn down the offer to play a bit Mario Cart and maybe his mood would lighten up this way.

Shortly after, Koyama didn't have much time left because he had to prepare the bar for the opening hour and so Nino did his best to convince Shige to play a bit with him, which the other finally agreed to, even if he murmured something about his approaching deadline and no time for gaming. This evening, Nino didn't feel like drinking at all – remembering his last bad handover at Aiba's place – and so he just stayed upstairs in Shige's and Koyama's apartment to game and then switching to watch some variety shows when Shige disappeared stressed in his home office for finishing a chapter of his new novel.

Nino didn't know that Koyama had quite a hard time downstairs at the bar since bit by bit not only Sakurai showed up to confirm that Nino wasn't drinking at the Private Hearts again, but also Aiba dropped by as well as their boss Matsumoto, accompanied by Ohno, later on as well. Of course, Koyama just sent them off. Nino had told clearly that he didn't want to talk to anyone of them and that he still didn't want to let them know about his whereabouts. So Koyama just told them that he didn't know where Nino was and that they should take a look at other places. All of them bought Koyama's saying, expect of one guy.

"Nino," a familiar voice shocked the young man who was zipping through the TV-channels right now to kill the time during commercial break. "I knew you're here…"

"Nino, I'm sorry… I couldn't keep him from going upstairs," Koyama, who was standing behind the visitor, folded his hands and lowered his head to an excusing gesture.

Nino's shocked face eased and he just waived his hand. "Don't worry, Kei-chan, it's OK… I tried to reach him before but he wasn't available."

Koyama nodded, exchanging a look with his friend and then excusing himself because he had to go down again – business was waiting after all.

Ohno went a few steps closer and finally took a seat on the couch, next to Nino. He turned towards his best friend and gave him a worried look. "I'm sorry that I didn't see your calls earlier. You were at my place as well, I guess. I was visiting an exhibition," just as Nino had predicted. "I wanted to call you back but then I couldn't reach you. You look terrible…"

"Thanks…," Nino commented sarcastically and scratched his nose.

"What happened?" Ohno asked worrying. Nino sighed deeply and then put on a pout.

"I think this thing between me and Sho does not work…," Nino admitted his fears, trying to keep cool even if he was aware of the fact that Ohno knew him good enough to look through his acting.

"Why not? Because of this fiancé-stuff?" Ohno asked straightforward and tilted his head.

"Well... Wait," Nino frowned. "You know about that?! I didn't tell you anything yet, why do you… did they send you here to get me to talk to that bastard?!" the young man jumped up, angrily fisting his trembling hands. "You can leave immediately if this is the case, I won't talk to hat guy ever again!"

Ohno stood up as well, holding up his hands like he was ready to move a bit backwards just in case Nino would jump at him. "Wow, wow, wait… it's just that Jun-kun told me about it and yeah, the others are searching for you and Sakurai really wants to talk to you as soon as possible. But I didn't tell them that I got up here. Jun-kun is waiting for me because he wanted to spend the evening together but Aiba and Sakurai already left the bar when Koyama-kun sent them away, so don't worry!"

Not sure if he could really trust his friend, Nino stood there, his arms crossed, his eyebrows frowning. He took a deep breath.

"OK," Nino finally sat down again, his arms still crossed and stared at the TV-screen, which just showed some stupid commercials.

"Sakurai said that this is a huge misunderstanding and that you got it completely wrong," Ohno continued.

"I don't think that I got something wrong. It was clear. And I don't want to be in a relationship with a guy like that," Nino commented in his grumpy mood.

"A guy like what?"

"Come on Oh-chan, you know what I mean, he lied to me! And Sakurai isn't only cheating on me with dating me although he has got a financé, he even is betraying a person who is supposed to be his life-partner… and the mother of his children in the future," Nino said in a bitter tone. "I don't want to be part of a betrayal like that. I already know how much it hurts to be cheated on! And I don't want to be only the secret lover..."

Ohno stood silent after Nino's statement. Of course, he could understand that. He remembered Nino's last time when he had fallen in love. That relationship had ended in a complete disaster, leaving Nino behind in shambles because his ex-boyfriend had finally run off with another lover after hiding an affair from Nino for almost a whole year. 

Back then, Nino locked away his heart, swearing to himself that he didn't want to fall in love again. Back then, the young man had started to think about sex and love as two separated things and therefore preferred to live only the first one without any boundaries while he put "love" aside to not get hurt again. It was like a miracle that Sakurai, that slightly strange and a bit eccentric guy he just found hot in the beginning, had managed to elicit Nino's heart from its hiding place and to grab it completely. Nino's heart though was still fragile and it was understandable, that he would back off as soon as anything hinted on getting hurt. Well, maybe it had been too late already anyways…

Ohno sighed and brushed his hands through his hair. "You know," he began. "I'm not the one allowed to tell you everything, that's why I think you should really go and meet Sakurai to talk things out. I can understand that you are hurt and confused but please, don't jump to a conclusion thinking the worst, that's unfair, Nino. I think you are not only hurting Sakurai with this but yourself as well."

Nino first didn't react and just continued, staring angrily at the TV-screen – or at least pretending to do so.

Ohno came a bit closer and even if Nino struggled first because he didn't want to get touched, Ohno finally pulled his friend into a hug. "Come on Nino, I know you can't let it end like this, you're in love with that guy. Don't run away now, I don't want you to regret this for the rest of your life."

Nino's body finally relaxed and after a few seconds, he slightly put his arms around his best friend. He buried his face against Ohno's chest just before he murmured, "I will punch him pretty hard if he makes me cry again," which made his friend chuckle.

"I'll punch him pretty hard then as well," Ohno stated and now it was Nino who chuckled a little.

\- - - - -

Sakurai really sounded relieved when Nino called him after switching on his phone again – just to get bombarded with a ton of further e-mails begging him to call back, to meet, to talk... Nino finally agreed to show up at Sakurai's place after he had declined the offer of Sakurai to come to his own apartment. In case the conversation turned out in a bad way, Nino wanted to keep the opportunity to flee from Sakurai's place instead of being stuck with him then at his. 

Sakurai sent Nino his address and then Nino left the "Private Hearts," thanking Shige and Koyama for their support and leaving behind Ohno who joined Matsumoto again who was still waiting in the bar for his sweetheart, his eyes gaping as he saw Nino in the bar as well. Ohno would explain everything to him, so Nino didn't bother and just left without even paying attention to his boss.

He had not made the effort to go home for changing clothes and so Nino finally showed up in front of Sakurai's apartment door still dressed in Koyama's too large clothes, looking like a little boy. His heart pounded like crazy when he lifted his hand to Sakurai's doorbell. He definitely felt the urge to run away. Or to punch Sakurai right away. He didn't want to hear Sakurai's excuses, did he? He was so angry and disappointed, but Ohno was right. He couldn't just run away. So maybe punching Sakurai really was the better option for the time being.

Taking another deep breath and closing his eyes, trying to calm his heartbeat down, Nino finally bit his lower lip and pressed the doorbell to Sakurai's apartment. As if the other had been camping in the hallway waiting for him, the door opened just a second later, giving Nino another jumping heartbeat as he cringed in surprise. He held his breath as he opened his eyes again, just to see Sakurai's big, dark eyes staring at him. The older one let out a huge sigh, not caring about showing Nino his relief.

"You really came," Sakurai said and his lips curled up into a little smile.

Nino blushed a little, feeling the urge of punching that guy disappearing in an instant and lowered his eyes to the ground while he crossed his arms, getting entangled a bit in the long sleeves of Koyama's sweater.

"Of course I did, I'm not such a bad guy, creating hope and then destroying it by doing something shitty," he mumbled and of course, Sakurai got the side blow of that comment.

"What's with those clothes?" the young lawyer asked instead of reacting to Nino's comment as he checked his appearance and couldn't ignore that something looked a little off.

"None of your business," Nino answered in a cold voice and Sakurai just nodded shortly, pouting a little.

"Alright… Please come in," Sakurai said and stepped a bit aside so that Nino could enter the hallway.

Sakurai's apartment was a bit larger than Nino's. The lawyer had hung up some nice pictures of nature like a beautiful sunset, the play of sunlight and the leaves of a tree, a close up of a water drop clinging onto some flower petals and more. Sakurai's shelves in the corridor as well as in the living room were filled with books and decorated with little souvenirs. There was a bunch of colorful pillows nicely arranged on the huge couch and some aroma candles were placed on the coffee table in front of the TV screen. What a nice, comfortable apartment... Seems like lawyers got paid quite well, Nino thought. Nino stopped as Sakurai turned around to give his visitor a nervous look.

"Well, you wanted to explain things? This is your chance," Nino started when Sakurai didn't talk for a felt half eternity and shot a challenging look towards him.

Sakurai reached out and took one of Nino's hands, pulling him towards the couch. The young man protested but finally got pulled down to sit. Taking a deep breath, Sakurai finally made an effort to tell Nino what had been going on. He therefore didn't let Nino's hand go, even if the other one first tried to pull away, just to learn that Sakurai's grip was stronger than expected.

"You remember when I told you about the problems with my family, right?" the young lawyer finally asked, Nino frowned about that, giving him a puzzled look before he slowly nodded. "When I told you that they try to interfere with my private life, that means that they want me to get married."

"Oh... Is that so...," Nino's tried to act as if he didn't care.

"Aiko is the daughter of a good friend of my parents. We are friends since our childhood but I never ever intended to marry her or was interested in her in some way of dating or anything. Really!" Sakurai continued, pressing Nino's hand and looking into the younger man's eyes. "Our parents suddenly decided that we should be engaged and that we were supposed to marry but honestly, we were only making fun of that, not intending to follow this order."

"Well, seemed like she changed her mind," Nino mumbled, remembering the young woman telling straight forward that she was Sakurai's fiancé.

"That's a bit complicated, OK?" Sakurai ruffled his hair, thinking about how to explain the situation in the best way.

"Oh really?!" Nino couldn't swallow a sarcastic comment.

"You know, lately we met at the birthday party of her father and she asked me if I wasn't interested in making our parents' desire true. She seemed to think about it as a real opportunity because she broke up with her boyfriend recently and was afraid that she wouldn't be able to find a new partner. But I told her clearly that for me nothing had changed and that I don't see a point in getting married. She wasn't really pleased and then I told her that I'm in love and seeing someone recently…"

"Wait, what did you...," Nino tried his best, not to blush. If Sakurai really told the truth, everything was really just a misunderstanding and more than that, Sakurai just had admitted that he loved Nino. But could he believe him? Was it really that simple?

"Seems like she wanted to confirm somehow, at least that was what she told me, so she decided to come to the company and find out more details," Sakurai went on to explain.

Now at the latest, Nino blushed deeply red. He reached his free hand up to his face and tried to cover his eyes. His anger suddenly seemed blown away, instead, he really felt ashamed now. He had been so stupid... He knew that he had acted quite obvious and embarrassing, like the cheated girlfriend, confronting her lover with his mistress and then running away to hide and cry her eyes out – at least exactly that was what he did.

"She immediately understood the situation when she saw your reaction," well, who wouldn't?

Nino wished to get swallowed by the couch right now.

"I didn't even have to explain much. She apologized to me, Aiba and Matsumoto-san for creating a mess and then left. She accepts my decision and she feels sorry that she troubled you that much," Sakurai finished, looking at Nino who still tried to make himself invisible.

"Of course, it's up to you if you believe me or not and if you want to be together with me even in the future…," Sakurai pressed Nino's hand and tried to make him look into his direction. "I can totally understand that you interpreted the situation the way you did but really, it was just a misunderstanding! I'm not engaged, I never really was, my parents just said some stupid stuff and Aiko picked it up for her little test but that's all. I'm not going to marry anyone. All I want is to be with you, only you!"

Nino's eyes finally found Sakurai's before he completely froze. Those overwhelming feelings just paralyzed his whole body. He was still a little drawn between not being sure if he could really trust Sakurai and feeling the urge of hugging the other.

"If… if you don't believe me, call Aiba-kun or Matsumoto-san, they will tell you, what Aiko said. Really, it was never my intention to lie to you," Sakurai sounded sincere, didn't he? "I heard from Ohno-san about your past and that you got betrayed from a beloved person once. I want you to know that I will never, never do something like that! Please, I know things didn't go that well and it's my fault that I didn't tell you about the real circumstances first but I would never betray you, I swear!"

"What... what is this all about?!" Nino seemed a bit confused as he nervously brushed his hand through his hair.

"What do you mean?" Sakurai asked.

"You should have told me before I get everything wrong, Sho!" Nino finally exploded. "Do you know how stupid I feel right now?! I acted like a jealous chick because of that... that's so embarrassing!"

"I'm really sorry, Nino! I was my entire fault," Sakurai apologized.

"Of course, it was your fault! Think before acting the next time, and then there will not be such a stupid misunderstanding! Hell...," Nino let out all of his anger. "You know, initially, I came here to punch you, you idiot!" Nino stated and Sakurai just silently stared at him. "But how am I supposed to punch you after hearing all of this... I am the biggest idiot here now as it seems..."

"No, no, no, I am the idiot and if it makes you feel better, you can punch me as much as you want to!" Sakurai offered excitedly, widening his eyes.

"What the-," Nino wasn't sure if he should laugh about that situation or not. "You really are an idiot!"

"I know, I'm sorry!" Sakurai lowered his head. 

His hands still clung to Nino's hand, squeezing it a little bit. Nino bit his lower lip after he let out a huge sigh. What was he supposed to do now? Sakurai was an idiot. Obviously. But so was he himself as well. Obviously. Why else would he fall for that guy again just right now? Why else would he think that Sakurai was just adorable and cute as honest as he was now and that he just wanted to hug him, to kiss him and to forget everything that had caused troubles to them so far?

"Alright, I'll punch you," Nino decided and shot an earnest look towards Sakurai who just shot a shocked look back.

"Oh... OK, you're free to do so!" he finally answered. "My face? Punch me right in my face, come on!" he challenging offered Nino his cheek.

Nino took a deep breath, fisted his hand, bit his lower lip and lifted his fist to prepare for the punch. He focused onto Sakurai's chin and then... punched the other. Well, not that hard in fact.

"What...," Sakurai only chuckled as he felt Nino's hand against his chin. "What's that, Nino? This wasn't a punch, that felt like your fist kissed my chin!" he started teasing.

"Well then... what about-," Nino pulled back his hand and then punched Sakurai another time, so hard that Sakurai's face got blown to the side and he had to lean against the backside of the couch. "That?"

This time, Sakurai needed a bit to recover. He held his chin, which hurt pretty much, even if the shock must be the worst right now. He finally turned towards Nino again, letting his jaw crack a little and then looking towards the other.

"Nice," Sakurai said in a cracking voice and cleared his throat. "You feel better now?"

Nino rubbed his knuckles and let his bones make a little cracking sound as he relaxed his hand again and let out a relieved sigh. 

"Much better," he nodded. Somehow, he really felt better now. Like he had put everything that had bothered him the last few hours right into his fist and then just let go of everything.

"Alright," Sakurai finally started laughing. "I think we have a better basis now."

Nino took another deep breath. "I'll say it clear...," he then started, looking at Sakurai, "I'm not completely sure if I can trust you."

The other lifted his head, looking at Nino's eyes directly and grabbing Nino's hand again, "Please trust me! I'll do everything to prove you that you can! Please, just give me one more chance, Nino!"

Nino's heart felt like it was close to explode. He couldn't resist any longer, could he? "...Only one..."

Sakurai's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe what he just had heard. "Alright!," he answered enthusiastically, "Only one! I swear, you won't regret it!"

"You swear?"

"I swear!" Sakurai nodded.

Finally, Nino couldn't hold back any longer. The excitement had been just too much. And there was still a little insecurity left. But all in all Nino just felt relieved so he gave in the impulse and leaned forward to pull Sakurai into a hug, hiding his embarrassed face at his shoulder.

"Sho, don't you ever play with me," Nino murmured against Sakurai's shoulder, enforcing his grip.

"I won't!" the other hugged him back tightly.

"Swear!" Nino insisted and Sakurai lovingly put his hand onto Nino's head, pressing the other even closer into the hug.

"I swear," he whispered into Nino's ear, causing the younger one to shiver slightly.

"I'll punch you pretty hard if you ever make me sad and cry again," Nino mumbled, his voice sounding a bit shaky.

"I'll only make you cry from joy then," Sakurai laughed.

"Well, that should be OK…"

As they loosened their tight hug finally, Sho looked right into Nino's face, spotting red flushed cheeks and a few tiny tears in the corner of his eyes.

"You're so cute," Sakurai smiled towards the other with a loving expression on his face, lifting his hand to wipe away a single tear.

"I'm not," Nino protested and pursed his lips.

"I love you," Sakurai whispered, his eyes fixated onto Nino's who just stared at him, not able to respond properly because his heart felt like it had just dropped to the bottom of his stomach.

"Sho... Shut up and kiss me," was everything that Nino could come up with after the other's confession.

His face was burning red from the embarrassment but of course, he just felt overjoyed right now, even more when Sakurai's hands cupped Nino's face and pulled him closer for a kiss. Nino closed his eyes, just as Sakurai did and as their lips met; it felt like the whole world was standing still for a moment – along with Nino's heartbeat. Nino could only feel Sakurai's closeness. He could feel his warm hands against his cheeks, his warm presence all around him, and his hot lips covering his own. As they parted, they opened their eyes just to drown in each other's eyes again a second later. Sakurai's cheeks looked as red and hot as Nino's felt to be and it didn't last long until both of them just wanted to continue what they had begun. Sakurai's hands wandered from Nino's cheeks over his neck to the back of his head and when Sakurai pulled him closer, Nino put his arms around Sakurai's neck and climbed onto the other's lap to get even closer.

As Sakurai put his arms around Nino's back to hold him close and then stood up, lifting the other as well, Nino started giggling and broke their kiss.

"What are you doing?" he asked and smiled at Sakurai who started walking a bit clumsily.

"I want to show you my huge, comfortable bed in my beautiful bedroom...," the other grinned and approached Nino again for claiming his lips.

"Somehow this feels like a déjà vu," Nino giggled and wrapped his feet tighter around Sakurai's hips who then could walk more easily and guided his conquest right into his bedroom.

Sakurai had not promised too much, his bed really was huge. He let Nino down who immediately let himself fall backwards onto the soft fabric of Sakurai's bed sheet while Sakurai dimmed the light to create a romantic atmosphere in the room. He turned around to his stereo and switched on some music. Then he returned to Nino, climbed onto his bed and placed himself above his boyfriend, whose cheeks were still flushed red and whose eyes seem to drown him. Sakurai brushed Nino's hair from his forehead and leaned down to place a kiss onto it. His hand caressed Nino's cheek, slid down his chin and his throat slowly before he started to play with the collar of Nino's sweater.

"I knew these aren't your clothes, they aren't too large only, they even don't smell like you," he finally mentioned, sounding a bit offended. "You mind explaining why you are wearing clothes of another guy?"

Nino giggled. "I was soaking wet from the rain and Kei-chan lent them to me after I took a shower at his place."

"I see," Sakurai smiled. "Then, after the next shower please wear something from me."

Nino giggled again and nodded, reaching up his hands to pull Sakurai down for another kiss. He voluntarily parted his lips when Sakurai's tongue slightly pushed against Nino's lips to let him in. They shared a passionate kiss accompanied by moaning of pleasure as well as some sighs of joy here and there. Sakurai's hands explored Nino's body and finally found their way under that huge sweater the other was still wearing. He pushed it up a little to explore Nino's naked belly. Their lips didn't part and Nino finally started nestling at the buttons of Sakurai's dress shirt after he had untied and thrown away his necktie. Slowly opening one button after the other he exposed Sakurai's naked chest and let his hands glide over it. 

Sakurai felt warm and intimate and Nino of course immediately remembered that night he spent with him just a few weeks ago. His heart made a happy jump as he thought about how desperate he was back then because he thought something like that would never happen again. Now he was lying in Sakurai's bed, beneath that guy, getting the most breathtaking kisses on earth and slowly but surely losing not only his healthy mind due to the overwhelming love and passion he was feeling but also losing his clothes one by one.

Sakurai was about leaning over to Nino again as the younger one suddenly sat up and Sho backed of a little in surprise from that sudden movement. But since Nino was the only one who was already completely naked, he decided that now it was his turn. He lifted his hands and started caressing Sakurai's body, letting his hands slide underneath the already unbuttoned dress shirt to peel it off Sakurai who just let it happen. Then, Nino started fumbling around at Sakurai's pants, teasing him a little before he finally pulled them down and undressed his boyfriend completely. Sakurai quickly got rid of his pants and threw them onto the ground beneath the bed. Then, Nino guided Sakurai to lay back against some pillows; Sakurai let himself get pressed into from the other. He leaned back, sighing in joy as Nino brushed his hands slightly over Sakurai's sensible sides, before he let his hands glide down between Sakurai's legs.

Sakurai felt Nino's hands touching his already erected member, first letting his fingers glide over the sensitive skin before he finally wrapped his hand around it. Sho moaned and closed his eyes. Nino kept on moving his hand up and down, tightening his grip a bit to increase the pressure slightly to get another moan out of Sakurai. Satisfied, Nino's lips curled up into a smirk. When Sakurai started to move his hips a bit due to the increasing pleasure and eagerness, Nino stopped moving his hand around Sakurai's cock for a moment. With his other hand, he started to caress Sakurai's inner thighs which made the other even more eager and finally after stroking Sakurai's hardened member with his hand another time, Nino leaned down.

Sakurai could feel Nino's hot and wet mouth embracing his erection. Slowly and carefully he took it in as deep as he could, letting his tongue play a little before he started to suck slightly. Sakurai moaned and threw back his head. His hands shot forward to bury themselves in Nino's hair so that Sakurai at least could get the feeling of being able to control the other a bit if he wanted to. Nevertheless, he of course was too distracted from the indescribable feeling around his proud erection and just ended up tousling a few strands of Nino's hair before he pulled back his hands to bury his fingers into the bed sheet besides him.

"Gosh, Nino... that feels so good... please don't stop," Sakurai moaned in a hoarse voice but just at this moment, Nino did exactly that – he stopped.

The young man then replaced his mouth with one of his hands, embracing Sakurai's arousal but only to stoke it slightly – as slightly that Sakurai almost felt nothing but the vague imagination of getting touched.

"Nino, please...," Sakurai opened his eyes and reached his hands out to Nino to touch him and to show him that he should keep on.

But Nino just let his hand slide up and down Sakurai's length one last time, before he completely withdrew his hand, a naughty grin dancing on his lips. Sakurai just stared at him, not getting what was going on.

"You really made me suffer a lot, Sho," Nino said when he sat back, parting his legs a little so that he could easily reach down to touch himself. He moaned voicelessly as he touched his arousal. "I thought about letting you suffer a little as well," Nino smirked.

"What...," Sakurai didn't get it.

"Listen, you are not allowed to touch. Not yourself, not me. Just watch...," Nino let his tongue slip out between his lips and brushed it over his lips to wet them while he carried on stroking his own member, sighing slightly as he slowly but surely sped up.

Sakurai swallowed hard at this sight. As ordered, he didn't touch himself and so his hands just wandered back to his sides so that he could cringe the soft fabric of his bed sheets instead to not drive crazy on an instant. So Nino wanted to play games, right? Well, Sakurai wouldn't have a choice but to endure this little punishment of his boyfriend, even if he could hardly held back the urge of rushing forward to touch Nino as well, to lean over him and to take him right now and right there.

Nino was a real teaser, Sakurai thought as the other seemed to clearly enjoy himself until he finally came over his hands, his face showing the wave of pleasure that came along with the release. Nino breathed heavily when he leaned back a little to rest. He pressed his hand full of his own cum onto his still slightly twitching member, fully enjoying his orgasm. When he recovered a little, looking at Sakurai, he found the man with flushed red cheeks, his fingers buried in the bed sheets and his legs slightly trembling, between them his hard and proud arousal, which was still pleading for release.

With a giggle, Nino finally crawled a bit closer to Sakurai, turning around and leaning backwards towards Sakurai so that he was lying in an embrace of the other. Sakurai pulled in the air sharply between his teeth as he felt Nino's back pressing against his hot and pulsating member.

"Nino, I can't...," he hissed.

He quickly slung his arms around Nino's waist, not losing any time and started to touch Nino's cock, stroking up and down with one hand, spreading Nino's cum all over, wakening the sensible member again. Nino moaned and leaned back even more until his head lay on Sakurai's shoulder and he could feel the other's hot embrace around his body. Nino lifted his head and turned it a little, his lips searched for Sakurai's which finally met his to seal them with another passionate kiss. Leaving Nino's erection for a while, Sakurai bent a little sideward, reaching to his drawer to fumble a little around until he found what he had been searching for – lube and a condom. Putting some lube onto his fingers, Sakurai returned to Nino and let his hand slide between himself and Nino's back down to his ass to prepare him for more.

"Hey, didn't I say no touching?" Nino hissed as he felt Sakurai's finger entering his hole moaned silently.

"We are far beyond from no touching, Nino and you know that," Sakurai answered in a slightly hoarse voice which turned Nino on even more.

Nino seemed to be ready for more and so Sakurai pulled him up a little until both of them were kneeling on the bed, their upper parts of their bodies straightened. Sakurai's fingers left Nino's entrance and with slightly shaking hands he ripped open a condom which he pulled over his erection. He then put his arms around Nino again to press him against his own body, his cock pressing against Nino's ass. The younger one turned around a little, his eyes searching for Sakurai's who then leaned a bit forward for another kiss before he bent Nino over so that the other was now kneeling on all fours and Sakurai finally entered him slowly from behind, his hands fixated onto Nino's hips to stable the young man.

"Ah...," Nino stiffed as he felt his body getting spread by Sakurai's big hard cock. The feeling resembled some kind of sweet pain and suddenly his arms felt too weak to support his body any longer. Leaning his forehead onto his arms, Nino closed his eyes and waited until his body got used to Sakurai who had finally filled Nino and now waited a little.

"Are you OK?" Sakurai asked, carefully leaning forward letting his hands wander from Nino's hips down to caress the other's shoulders.

"Yeah...," Nino nodded. "You can go on."

And Sakurai started to move, pulling out slowly and pushing back as slow as well, repeating that movement until he felt Nino relax more beneath him which he took as a sign that he could move faster. Sakurai covered Nino's body with his, feeling the other's slender back against his chest as he moved closer, pressing Nino carefully to lie down even more until he buried his face in the soft sheets of Sakurai's bed.

Nino's voice, starting to sound hoarse from his moaning he tried to suppress, as well as his lower part of his body slamming against Nino's cute butt cheeks, turned Sakurai even more. He tried to slow down again a little to extend their pleasure but had a really hard time doing so. His cock embraced by Nino's hot, tight hole just made him addicted so much that he couldn't help but speed up his movement with each thrust of his hips, burying himself deeper and deeper within his boyfriend's arching body. Nino tried to muffle his hoarse screams into Sakurai's bed sheet as he felt Sakurai's hard cock hitting his sensitive spot with each thrust. Sakurai straightened up until his arms supported his body, rocking into Nino even faster. His face was all red, some strands of his hair sticking to his slightly sweaty forehead. Sakurai then wrapped his arms around Nino's waist, pulling the younger one's body closer towards him so that he was able to meet Sakurai's thrusts even better. Nino didn't care the sweet pain and just screamed Sakurai's name.

Speeding up his movements, Sakurai also increased the speed of his own as well as Nino's breath, increased their excitement, their desire to jump over the edge. Moaning they went closer and closer and it didn't last long until both of them reached the peak of their orgasm and came hard at almost the same time.

Sakurai let his arms which were supporting him until now give in so that he laid down, covering Nino's shaking body completely, feeling the other's warmth mixing with his own. Sakurai could hear Nino's breath hitching voicelessly. Their bodies trembled with the shaking of their calming excitement and finally their breath calmed down.

Sakurai pulled out of Nino, rolled onto his back next to him and let out a huge sigh. He then quickly snatched a tissue from a box near his bed and got rid of his condom. Turning towards Nino he felt his heart skipping a beat as he saw the other lying there, his eyes half closed, looking exhausted but happy. The young man's hair which fell into his forehead looked a bit sweaty and so Sakurai reached out to brush it away. Nino's eyes looked up; right into Sakurai's and blushing again, Nino gave Sakurai one of his cutest smiles ever. Sakurai crawled closer and pulled Nino into a tight hug so that the other chuckled a bit in surprise.

"Gotcha," Sakurai whispered into Nino's ear with a broad pride smile on his face.

"You got me," Nino murmured back and put his arms around Sakurai to press him closer.

Sakurai brushed his hands through Nino's hair and then placed a kiss onto his forehead, his cheeks, his nose and finally his lips. Nino closed his eyes and answered the kiss as he brushed his lips over Sakurai's, inviting him for a deep kiss. As they broke their kiss again, Nino snuggled closer and lovingly nuzzled his nose against Sakurai's chin. Sakurai enforced their hug and both of them enjoyed the warm of their embrace and the romantic atmosphere with the silent music in the background.

"Ah!" suddenly Nino straightened his neck and tilted his head.

Sakurai looked at him with questioning eyes. "What is it, Nino? Is everything OK?" he asked concerned.

Nino looked at him shyly, not sure if he should say out loud what he was thinking right now. As Sakurai teasingly poked him into the side, Nino gave up and said in a low voice. "That's our song playing right now..."

Sakurai blinked wondering. He concentrated onto the music and tried to figure out the song. It was the English version of "Where you are" by a Korean group.

"Why...," Sakurai started as he wanted to ask why Nino thought that this song was "their" song. Then he recalled a certain situation in a certain bar, the taste of Cuba Libre and the image of Nino sitting next to him, a bit ashamed when Sakurai had made his first afford of flirting with his coworker. "You're so cute, Nino, I love you!" he said again, pressing Nino's close again.

"I'm not cute! And be careful, Sho, I may not forgive you that easily if you do something shitty again," Nino murmured against Sakurai's warm skin.

Sakurai pulled back a little and looked into Nino's eyes. "I will never ever disappoint you, I swear," he whispered, cupping Nino's face and gave him another kiss onto his nose.

"Sho?" Nino whispered.

"Hm?"

As their eyes met again, Nino blushed, "I love you too," he could say just before Sakurai hugged him again and overjoyed started rolling over the bed with Nino in his arms so that Nino couldn't suppress a surprised little squeal.

\- - - - -

The next morning when Nino opened his eyes, the space beside him in Sakurai's bed was empty. The young man reached out his hand and felt that the bed sheet was still a bit warm. Sakurai couldn't be awake for long, he figured. Sleepily, Nino rolled around a little bit more before he sat up and rubbed his face. He was damned tired after the last night. Tired but happy, when he recalled what he and Sakurai had done – not only once. Nino couldn't help but was all smiles.

When he finally got up to take a shower, he heard Sakurai rummaging in the kitchen and when he set a foot into it, he could see the other working hard to prepare breakfast. Nino went a few steps closer and hugged Sakurai from behind who almost dropped the frying pan because he was so surprised and didn't hear Nino coming. After Nino had picked up his good morning kiss, he sneaked out of the kitchen again to take a shower. Afterwards he inspected Sakurai's closet in the bedroom and finally picked a red shirt, which he wanted to wear after showering.

Sakurai's happy face when he saw Nino wearing his shirt made Nino's heart jump. They enjoyed their breakfast together and Nino was happy that this time he could really spend the rest of the day with Sakurai. They didn't plan anything but to watch some movies together, cuddling on the couch, talking and talking about whatever they could think about.

When Nino went to get a glass of water, suddenly his phone, which was lying next to Sakurai on the couch, rang. Sakurai snatched it and took a look who wanted to reach his boyfriend.

"Nino! Ohno-san is calling!" Sakurai screamed through the corridor, getting an understanding "Coming" out of the kitchen.

"Nino, what's up?" Ohno asked curiously, as his friend picked up the call after Sakurai had reached out his cell phone to him. "How did turn out yesterday? Are you still somewhere cursing your shitty love life or are you all lovey-dovey with Sakurai?"

Nino laughed at his best friend's comment, still standing in the living room, next to the couch while Sakurai turned towards him with a curious face. "Don't worry, Oh-chan, everything is fine! Thanks for asking."

"So you are together now? I mean, really together? Officially dating and stuff? And everything is settled?"

"Yes. And yeah, everything is settled," Nino repeated and he was pretty sure that Ohno was able to hear his over happily smile he was wearing right now. He exchanged a short look with Sakurai who smiled at him lovingly and shyly rubbed his neck as the memories of last night came back.

Suddenly on Ohno's side of the phone call there seemed to be a bit trouble as Nino could hear another voice followed by Ohno making some struggling noises. A few seconds after suddenly Nino heard someone else talking to him.

"Ninomiya! Hi! Listen, what do you think about a double date tomorrow in the afternoon?" it was Boss Matsumoto, still seeming to struggle with Ohno about the phone but clearly voicing his – as he might think – brilliant idea. Nino couldn't help but started to giggle.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"You and Sakurai and me and Satoshi, that would be so much fun, wouldn't it? I suggest cinema, there's a movie showing that I definitely want to watch. What do you think?"

Nino took a few seconds to think about the offer and then finally sat down onto the couch next to Sakurai again. He leaned against Sakurai's shoulder and snuggled close as the other put his arm around Nino.

"E-mail me place and time and we will see if we'll join," he said into the cell phone and was happy that Ohno seemed to have won the fight over his cell phone again finally.

"I'm sorry Nino - Jun-kun, please! - You don't have to join us, if you don't want to..."

"Oh well," Nino tilted his head. "I'll talk about that matter with my lover and then I'll let you know our decision. Have fun with Jun-kun today and maybe see you tomorrow!" Nino answered and ended their phone call.

Sakurai leaned closer and placed a kiss onto Nino's cheek. "Is Matsumoto-san planning something weird? I think I heard his voice, right?"

Nino giggled and turned his head to meet Sakurai's lips with his. "I don't know, could be fun after all. But let's talk about that later on. I'm in the mood for something completely else right now."

"Oh, is that so...," Sakurai asked. He kissed Nino's lips again before he traced down his boyfriend's throat, finally placing some kisses onto Nino's collarbones which showed off from the slightly too large collar of Sakurai's red shirt. "I thought, we wanted to watch some movies, maybe go out for dinner later on since we missed our reservation yesterday...," the young man kept on talking while he was leaning over Nino, guiding him to lay down onto the couch.

"Sho," Nino said, cupping the other's face with his hands and smirking at him, "Shut up and kiss me..."

And exactly that was what Sakurai did.

 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally managed to completely update this fic. Sorry for the wait, in case somone is still reading this ^^" I am currently transferring my missing fanfics from lj to ao3 and dw atm, so it's possible that there will be a lot more updates soon. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this old piece of mine!
> 
> Full PDF-Version of this can be found here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/fu5njavys19nk9k/sky_fish7_Ch%40tterbox_Complete.pdf


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